Aerial - Aviation & Drone News

Military & commercial drones, commercial aviation, regulation and everything that flies.

Northrop Grumman Completes First Autonomous Flight of YFQ-48A Talon Blue

Drone News, Military, Military Drones /

Northrop Grumman completed the maiden flight of its YFQ-48A Talon Blue uncrewed combat demonstrator on October 3, 2026, at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The aircraft executed all mission phases autonomously, including taxi, takeoff, navigation maneuvers, and landing, without human pilot intervention. Autonomous Flight Profile and Mojave Trials Bearing civil registration N444LX, […]

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Northrop Grumman YFQ-48A Talon Blue autonomous combat drone in flight over Mojave

Textron Aerosonde Completes First 150-Nautical-Mile Vertiport Transit in Commercial Airspace

Drone News /

Textron Systems Corporation and the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech have completed the first uncrewed aircraft transit between two vertiports through commercial civilian airspace. The cross-state demonstration covered nearly 150 nautical miles using the Aerosonde Mk. 4.7 VTOL platform, linking research facilities in western Virginia to industrial assembly hubs in the east. Flight Profile

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DeltaQuad Unveils Evo-LE Electric VTOL Drone with Eight-Hour Endurance

Drone News, Military Drones /

Dutch unmanned systems manufacturer DeltaQuad has unveiled the Evo-LE, a long-endurance variant of its electric fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) platform. Engineered specifically for persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations, the aircraft extends flight duration to eight hours on purely electric propulsion. Drivetrain and Architecture Modifications Reaching an eight-hour flight profile

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Rincell Unveils RC50T Tabless 21700 Cell for High-Discharge Drone Operations

Drone News /

Fremont-based battery developer Rincell has introduced the RC50T, an NDAA-compliant tabless 21700 lithium-ion cell engineered specifically for demanding uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) flight profiles. The cell is designed to deliver sustained high-current output during high-load mission segments such as vertical takeoff, aggressive climb profiles, and high-G maneuvers. Performance Specifications and Tabless Design The RC50T utilizes

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US Navy Awards Boeing $562M First Production Contract for MQ-25A Stingray Carrier Drones

Military, Military Drones /

The United States Navy has committed its first production dollars to operational carrier-based uncrewed aviation. Under a fixed-price incentive contract valued at $562 million, Boeing will manufacture Lot 1 Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) units of the MQ-25A Stingray uncrewed aerial refueling tanker. The contract covers three Lot 1 air vehicles and funds the acquisition of

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Japan Loses RQ-4B Global Hawk in Sea of Japan Crash, Slashing HALE Fleet by a Third

Drone News, Military, Military Drones /

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) has confirmed the loss of an RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 30(I) high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle following a crash in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Tottori Prefecture. The incident, which occurred during an active operational flight on September 15, reduces Japan’s strategic high-altitude surveillance inventory

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Japan Air Self-Defense Force RQ-4B Global Hawk stationed at Misawa Air Base

Beijing Outlaws Civilian Drone Possession with Mandatory Buyback Program

Drone News, Regulations /

Civilian drone ownership in China’s capital is officially entering liquidation. Under revised municipal airspace regulations finalized this week, Beijing has enacted an outright prohibition on the possession, storage, and operation of uncrewed aircraft systems across the entire administrative area of the municipality. The mandate takes effect November 15, 2026, eliminating the previous three-aircraft household allowance

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General Atomics Unveils Wildfire UAS: Low-Cost Mass for Contested Airspace

Drone News, Military Drones /

For nearly three decades, medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) uncrewed aviation followed a predictable trajectory: higher unit costs, longer development cycles, and increasingly exquisite sensor payloads. The MQ-9A Reaper and MQ-9B SkyGuardian proved indispensable in permissive environments, but modern contested air defense networks turned high-cost, single-digit production airframes into operational liabilities. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has

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General Atomics Wildfire Unmanned Aerial System concept render
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