The regulator on Tuesday authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers (VOs) in Dallas-area airspace for two companies: Zipline and Wing, the drone delivery subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet. The firms will manage the airspace themselves with FAA oversight.

“The industry is providing us with a lot of detailed documentation, and we’re providing a lot of oversight,” said Jarrett Larrow, regulatory and policy lead at the FAA’s Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office. “These public-private partnerships are key to safely integrating drones into our National Airspace System.”

Both Zipline and Wing have robust drone delivery services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in partnership with Walmart. But limiting the firms is a pesky regulation called the beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) rule, which limits drone operations to within the drone operator’s field of view of the operator.

The FAA is working to release the Normalizing UAS BVLOS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which would authorize drone operators to fly aircraft where they cannot physically see them. It expects to finalize the measure this year.

But in lieu of a firm rule, the regulator awards BVLOS permissions on a case-by-case basis through waivers. Typically, these exemptions require the companies to maintain VOs along delivery routes to monitor their drones. However, a handful of companies have been able to replace VOs with proprietary or third-party detect and avoid systems or UAS traffic management (UTM) software.

Without these permissions, drone delivery companies are greatly limited in the scope of their operations, which, in order to keep eyes on the aircraft at all times, are often constricted to small areas.

The new FAA authorization seeks to change that, at least in the Dallas area.

Beginning in August, Zipline and Wing will be allowed to deliver packages using UTM technology to keep their drones from colliding. In short, airspace would be managed by private companies with FAA oversight.

“This is the first time the FAA has recognized a third-party to safely manage drone-to-drone interactions,” said Praveen Raju, a program manager in the FAA’s NextGen Office. “As always, safety comes first, and we required exhaustive research and testing before giving the green light.”

Zipline and Wing will use UTM to share flight data and routes with other airspace users, with all flights occurring below 400 feet agl and far away from crewed aircraft. Consensus standards developed by the drone industry and accepted by the FAA describe how the technology can accommodate multiple layers of drone operations, according to the regulator.

The agency also said that Zipline and Wing since 2023 have safely conducted thousands of live drone test flights in shared Dallas-area airspace. Now, commercial flights are expected to provide the FAA with valuable information that could allow it to expand BVLOS operations without special exemptions nationwide.

The regulator on Tuesday said companies and organizations worldwide have shown interest in the project and how they can install their own UTM systems in the U.S.

“UTM is a critical piece for safe, routine, scalable BVLOS operations and to ensure everyone has equitable access to the airspace,” Larrow said. “If service providers and operators are successful in cooperatively sharing the airspace using UTM, it will be a repeatable process nationwide.”

Zipline and Wing were among the first drone delivery firms to obtain Part 135 operator permissions from the FAA and have worked closely with the regulator for years. Should the agency continue to look to the companies to pilot BVLOS operations, it may add permissions to their service areas in other states such as Arkansas, Utah, and Virginia.

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Conspicuously missing from the Senate’s fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA), though, is an amendment that would effectively ban new Chinese drone models from flying in U.S. skies.

The Countering CCP Drones Act made it into the House version of the FY25 NDAA, which passed in June with a vote of 217-199 and was largely backed by Republicans. But when contemplating its addition to the Senate legislation, lawmakers reportedly dropped the measure after hearing from over 6,000 public safety agencies that opposed the measure.

The bill is not dead yet, however. Last week, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment to the FY25 NDAA, cosponsored by Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), that puts the Countering CCP Drones Act back on the table in committee discussions.

Even if the amendment is rejected in the Senate, it could resurface in reconciliations between the Senate and House due to its inclusion in the latter’s version of the NDAA.

The Countering CCP Drones Act is the culmination of U.S. government efforts to restrict Chinese-manufactured drones from dominating the country’s drone industry. Lawmakers have also accused the Chinese Communist Party of using the aircraft to spy on Americans, citing its ties to state-owned entities. At present, there is no conclusive evidence to verify the claims, and manufacturers such as DJI have pushed back on the allegations.

Chinese drones have been blacklisted by the Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, Department of the Treasury, and other federal agencies. The states too have taken aim at the aircraft, with Arkansas and Scott’s home state of Florida implementing the most sweeping bans.

One significant drone-related provision, the bipartisan American Security Drone Act, made it into last year’s NDAA. That measure prohibits U.S. federal agencies and federally funded programs from procuring drones manufactured in China or Russia.

Adding to the fervor, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security released a report detailing the threat of Chinese drones shortly after the NDAA was signed into law.

The Countering CCP Drones Act that will be contemplated by the Senate targets two manufacturers in particular, DJI and Autel. Those firms, and any subsidiaries, partners, or affiliates, would be added to the Federal Communications Commission’s covered list—essentially a list of companies with which the U.S. government refuses to do business.

The companies’ addition to the covered list would not impact DJI and Autel drones already being flown by hobbyists or private companies, for example. However, it would prevent the FCC from authorizing new equipment and prohibit newly sold drones from using U.S. communications infrastructure, effectively banning all sales in the country.

The legislation was first introduced in 2022 by Scott and Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in the Senate and by Representative Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) in the House.

After failing to move it forward, Stefanik in 2023 reintroduced the bill in the House, pushing successfully for its inclusion in the House NDAA released in June. That month, the measure was also reintroduced in the Senate but did not receive enough support to be added to that chamber’s version of the bill.

DJI drones in particular are widely deployed by U.S. law enforcement and public safety agencies, who opposed the restrictions because other models are typically more expensive and less effective. Police departments in states that have not banned Chinese drones are continuing to buy them in droves.

Their efforts may be for naught, though, if the Senate is receptive to Scott’s amendment. Even if senators reject it, the measure’s inclusion in the House version of the NDAA could give it new life in the reconciliation process.

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The Canadian Olympic Committee is appealing a decision by the FIFA Appeal Committee to dock the team six points in the Paris Olympic Games soccer competition’s group stage—effectively dashing the team’s hopes of advancing to the knockout stage—over allegations of filming the practices of its first opponent, New Zealand.

The scandal has several layers, with various reports alleging Canada has used drones to spy on other teams’ practices for years, including the U.S. men’s and women’s teams. Multiple Canada Soccer staffers, including women’s head coach Bev Priestman, have either stepped aside or been suspended for the remainder of the Olympic Games.

Carla Qualtrough, Canada’s minister of sport and physical activity, even released a statement on the incident, calling it “deeply regrettable.”

Here’s everything you need to know:

Eyes in the Sky

On July 23, the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) in a statement said a drone was flown over the team’s training grounds in Saint Etienne, France.

French police identified the drone operator as Joseph Lombardi, a support staff member for the Canadian women’s team. After admitting to spying, Lombardi was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a French prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.

While spying on another team’s practice wouldn’t win the match for Canada, it could provide coaches with inside information on tactics, such as during highly strategized free kick situations.

“The NZOC and New Zealand Football are committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games and are deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident, which occurred just three days before the sides are due to face each other in their opening game of Paris 2024,” the NZOC said in its statement.

Also on July 24, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it had learned of a second drone spying incident at another New Zealand practice, leading it to suspend Lombardi and an assistant coach.

“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair play, and we are shocked and disappointed,” the COC said. “We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.”

In addition, Priestman, who led the Canada squad to a gold medal match win over Sweden at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, decided to step aside from coaching the team’s opening game—a 2-1 win over New Zealand on Thursday—amid the opening of an investigation by FIFA.

“I am absolutely heartbroken for the players, and I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them,” Priestman said in a statement. “I know how hard they have worked following a very difficult year in 2023, and that they are a group of people who care very much about sportsmanship and integrity. As the leader of the team on the field, I want to take accountability, and I plan to fully cooperate with the investigation.”

Down the Rabbit Hole

On Friday, Priestman was suspended for the remainder of the 2024 Olympics by Canada Soccer, which said that the scandal runs much deeper.

Kevin Blue, CEO and general secretary of the organization, said Canadian teams have been using drones to spy on opponents even before Paris.

“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous  drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Blue said in a statement.

Sources told Canada’s TSN, which is partially owned by ESPN, that Canada Soccer staffers used drones to spy on other teams’ closed-door practices even during the team’s gold medal-winning Tokyo Olympics run. The sources also allege drones were used to film Panama and Honduras women’s team practices after those Games.

One source told TSN that staffers were told they could lose their jobs if they did not comply with requests to film other practices. In one case, a contractor, who was scheduled to fly to Australia for the 2023 World Cup, had their trip canceled because they refused a demand to record opponents. A Canada Soccer staffer flew in their stead to capture the video, the source alleges.

TSN also said it reviewed text messages from a women’s soccer coach about secretly filming opponents from Costa Rica, South Korea, and Trinidad and Tobago in 2022.

An ESPN report on Saturday added to the scandal, with sources connected to U.S. Soccer telling the outlet that Canada’s drone-spying incident is not an outlier. The sources recounted several incidents of alleged spying on both the U.S. women’s and men’s soccer teams as recently as the 2024 Copa América tournament, as well as on other countries’ squads.

Another ESPN report alleges that the scandal goes all the way to the top, with Priestman and another coach having been aware of Canada Soccer’s covert use of drones for years, either before or after the fact.

It is possible, if unlikely, that the Canadian team’s gold medal in Tokyo could be revoked following FIFA’s investigation, according to COC CEO David Shoemaker.

Keeping Drones Out of Sports

The sporting world more widely has faced its fair share of drone-related woes as the buzzing aircraft begin to proliferate.

The NFL, for example, is contending with thousands of unauthorized drone flights over games and practices every season, to the point where the FAA has been forced to step in. The NFL, MLB, NCAA, and NASCAR have all backed a congressional bill that would grant government and law enforcement officials more power to jam or take down rogue aircraft.

A potentially bigger issue, though, is preventing those flights from happening in the first place. Stakeholders have struggled to find an answer despite the FAA creating temporary flight restrictions around games and practices for most major U.S. sports leagues.

Regulations, such as the FAA’s remote ID rule, will help federal and regional agencies keep an eye on the drones with digital license plates. But at present there is little recourse to actually prevent a drone from flying into stadium airspace.

The issue is one the U.S.—and Canada, evidently—will need to address as more drones take to the skies.

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Wing, the drone delivery venture of Google parent Alphabet, on Wednesday announced it is expanding to Melbourne and the Australian state of Victoria along with its food delivery partner. More than 250,000 residents can now order food, drinks, and household items by drone, straight to their backyard, directly through the DoorDash app.

Melbourne is not the first market Wing and DoorDash have targeted, and it is unlikely to be the last. The partners began offering the service in the Brisbane suburb of Logan in 2022 and in March expanded to Christiansburg, Virginia, in partnership with Wendy’s.

Wing’s delivery area in Melbourne, however, is its largest yet in Australia, covering 26 suburbs in the east of the city. The larger size was enabled via regulatory approvals from the country’s leadership.

The service will also feature the company’s highest pilot-to-aircraft ratio to date, with a single pilot assigned to monitor up to 50 drones at a time, three times more than previously permitted. The increase was approved, Wing said, because the company has been able to demonstrate the safety of its service over five years of operation in the country.

The drones cruise at roughly 65 mph (56 knots) at an altitude of about 200 feet, and all flights are preplanned by an automated system. They can continue flying in light rain or even snow. The DoorDash app will provide customers with a countdown clock to collect their delivery, which, as FLYING saw firsthand, is accurate down to the second.

Partnering with DoorDash is part of Wing’s strategy of direct integration. The company uses tools such as automation and autonomous drone loaders to streamline the order and delivery process on the merchant’s end, while the customer gains easy access to the service through one of the world’s largest food delivery platforms. DoorDash, for its part, has also not been shy about its use of autonomy.

Separately, Wing announced an expansion of its service in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area of Texas with partner Walmart. The companies added two new Walmart locations to their network, expanding it to six stores covering more than a dozen neighborhoods.

The drone delivery provider is also looking to get into healthcare through a collaboration with the U.K.’s Apian. The firms recently partnered with a collection of Irish companies to launch a healthcare drone delivery trial, including 100 flights per week of medical supplies and devices to Irish hospitals.

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Four projects intended to study potential AAM use cases and guide Michigan lawmakers as they regulate the industry have received a total of $6.25 million in funding. AAM is an umbrella term used by the FAA to denote new forms of passenger- and cargo-carrying aircraft, from drones to electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis.

The $2.6 million will be allocated to electric aircraft and charging station developer Beta Technologies. The remaining funds will be divided among drone infrastructure developer Skyports ($512,000); Traverse Connect, the economic developer for the state’s Great Traverse region ($689,500); and Michigan Central, a transportation technology campus located in Detroit ($2.45 million).

The money comes from the Michigan AAM Activation Fund, which has the combined backing of the state’s Department of Transportation (MDOT), Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME), and Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The fund aims to prepare Michigan for the arrival of AAM aircraft by coordinating state agencies.

“Advanced air mobility is an incredible economic opportunity for the state of Michigan,” said Gilchrist. “These investments create high-tech jobs, grow cutting-edge businesses, and enhance quality of life for our residents. These innovative advancements will elevate the way our companies operate, making air transportation more efficient and changing the way we move both people and cargo.”

Added Bradley Wieferich, Michigan state transportation director: “This new investment complements the state’s strategy to find safe and cost-efficient ways to capitalize on a robust network of aviation infrastructure serving Michiganders today.”

Beta will use its $2.6 million appropriation to install electric aircraft chargers statewide, including at Cherry Capital Airport (KTVC), Capital Region International Airport (KLAN), West Michigan Regional Airport (KBIV), and Willow Run Airport (KYIP).

The company is developing systems that adhere to the combined charging standard (CCS), a set of design protocols endorsed by Beta, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and other manufacturers such as Archer Aviation and Boeing’s Wisk Aero. So far, Beta has about 20 chargers installed and online in the Eastern U.S., with another 50 or so in the construction or permitting process.

Skyports will use its money to launch a trio of proof-of-concept, ship-to-shore drone delivery services in the cities of Sault Ste. Marie and Detour Village, in partnership with local shipping provider Interlake Steamships. The ships will be anchored while drones arrive to pick up deliveries.

Traverse Connect, with an assortment of partners, will examine the use of drones to deliver critical medical supplies to rural areas, which typically have less access to the U.S. healthcare system. The drones will also be deployed for marine surveying, water sampling and testing, bathymetric mapping, and emergency response in the Lake Michigan area.

Michigan Central, meanwhile, has been tasked with improving Michigan’s recently announced advanced aerial innovation region, an urban campus that was opened to bring AAM companies and jobs to the state. It will also work alongside Brooklyn’s Newlab, a technology center best known for revitalizing the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to test beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone use cases across building inspection, cargo delivery, and medical delivery.

“Michiganders have always been pioneers in the mobility space, and now we’re taking to the skies, finding new ways to use next-generation transportation to deliver critical resources like medical supplies and food, reinforcing international partnerships and cross-border collaboration, and so much more,” said Justine Johnson, Michigan chief mobility officer.

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In a letter to the FAA penned by John Nichols, the mayor of College Station, Texas—one of two locations where Prime Air began flying in 2022—on behalf of the city council he urged the regulator to deny a request that would more than double the service’s range. The mayor cited noise concerns from residents as the chief factor guiding the city’s position.

College Station has become a critical hub for Prime Air, which has struggled to get its drone delivery service off the ground. The city was intended to be one of two key launch markets in addition to Lockeford, California, but the latter service was shuttered in April after a less-than-stellar performance in a little more than its first year.

That leaves College Station as the sole market for Prime Air operations, and Amazon recently bolstered the service by adding on-demand delivery of prescription medications for the flu, asthma, pneumonia, and more. The e-commerce giant is also looking to bring drones to the Phoenix metro area in Arizona and has teased an international expansion to the U.K. and Italy.

Last year, Prime Air unveiled its MK30 drone, which is rangier, quieter, and more durable than its current MK27-2. To integrate the new model into its Texas fleet, the company submitted a draft supplemental environmental assessment to the FAA summarizing the MK30’s potential impacts on College Station residents.

Since the new model can fly in light rain and more extreme temperatures than the MK27-2, Amazon proposes operations 365 days per year, an increase from 260. Flights per day would increase from 200 to about 470 and would take place between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. CT, removing an FAA restriction limiting flights to daytime hours.

Under the proposal, the company’s operating area would expand from 43.7 to 174 square miles. The expansion to 43.7 square miles happened earlier this year, when the FAA granted Amazon approval to fly its drones where its pilots cannot physically see them. Comparable waivers have been handed out to competitors such as Zipline, Alphabet’s Wing, and UPS’s Flight Forward, similarly allowing those companies to expand their service areas through remote operations.

If approved, the lighter restrictions would allow Prime Air to fly more than 170,000 operations per year in College Station with the MK30, compared to 52,000 with its current model.

Nichols said that the city is excited to be one of the few in the U.S. to host a drone delivery service. But that came with a caveat.

“While the city is supportive of Amazon Prime Air’s efforts, we do not support their request in its entirety,” Nichols wrote. “Since locating in College Station, residents in neighborhoods adjacent to Amazon Prime Air’s facility have expressed concern to the city council regarding drone noise levels, particularly during takeoff and landing, as well as in some delivery operations.”

According to Nichols, residents “have continued” to voice concerns regarding Prime Air’s planned expansion, worrying that the noise will only worsen. The mayor added that the expanded service area could extend beyond the city’s commercial zoning district, which is intended to limit commercial spillover into residential neighborhoods.

“Due to the level of concern from residents, the city would ask to delay the increase in service levels relating to the number of deliveries, as well as the expanded operation days and hours, until additional noise mitigation efforts are implemented by Amazon Prime Air,” Nichols wrote.

Nichols did offer support, however, for the introduction of the MK30, which is expected to be 40 percent quieter than its predecessor. It is unclear whether the new drone would represent sufficient “noise mitigation efforts” in the city council’s eyes, though Nichols said it would have a “positive effect” on residents’ displeasure.

The comment period for the environmental assessment closed on Friday, and the city and Prime Air will now have to wait for the FAA’s decision. Amazon is also awaiting comments and a final decision on a draft environmental assessment for its planned Arizona service.

Should the proposed expansion be rejected, it would represent yet another blow for Prime Air, which so far has not delivered on former CEO Jeff Bezos’ prognostications more than a decade ago.

In that time, competitors such as Zipline and Wing have risen to the top of the young industry—each of those firms has completed multiple hundred thousands of drone deliveries, including outside the U.S.

Prime Air’s future prospects may be bolstered by the MK30, which promises to address some of the company’s problems: namely range, excessive noise, and limitations on deliveries in inclement weather.

Amazon is not the only drone delivery provider contending with unhappy customers. Earlier this month, a Florida man was arrested for shooting down a Walmart delivery drone he said was flying over his house.

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On Monday, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) announced that it and the Air Mobility Command (AMC), which provides aerial refueling and airlift services for U.S. forces worldwide, began testing a UAS traffic management (UTM) system at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

The system, called CLUE, or Collaborative Low-Altitude Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Effort, is designed to integrate UAS flights next to crewed aircraft above and around Air Force installations. According to the AFRL, MacDill is the first base to use a UTM system in airspace overseen by Department of Defense air traffic controllers.

“This is a significant milestone for AMC, AFRL, and the CLUE program, as the MacDill Air Traffic Control Tower and Base Defense Operations Center are first in the Air Force to operationally assess UTM capabilities,” said Phil Zaleski, manager of the AFRL CLUE program.

CLUE was born out of the AFRL’s Information Directorate as a project meant to provide “air domain awareness, situational awareness, and UTM operational capabilities for UAS operators, air traffic control [ATC] personnel, Security Forces and other stakeholders.”

The system arrived at MacDill in 2022, where initial testing focused on airspace deconfliction, communication, and security. The goal was to enable drone flights beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the operator, which are heavily scrutinized and restricted by the FAA.

Since then, the UTM platform has been developed to give air traffic controllers a three-dimensional view of UAS activity and make it possible to grant flight permissions automatically.

“Equipping airspace managers and UAS operators with a 3D operational viewing capability and additional features designed to reduce lengthy manual and advanced planning procedures will be critical to achieving real-time flight planning and mission execution,” said James Layton, chief of plans and programs at MacDill.

The system is also sensor-agnostic, meaning it integrates with an array of different sensors designed to detect, track, and identify drones, including a counter UAS system being tested at MacDill.

The Air Force in May began formally testing CLUE’s capabilities on the base, opening it to the site’s ATC tower, Defense Operations Center, and airfield management team. Personnel so far have used the system to plan the intent of UAS flights or let operators know where they are approved to fly a drone, for example.

Operators ask CLUE for the all clear to fly, and their request is either approved or denied by the control tower. Once permission is granted, they can fly within a bounded area. CLUE feeds the operators information about the airspace and other nearby aircraft, helping them stay within the approved zone while avoiding other drones.

The UTM system has also been installed at Eglin AFB’s Duke Field (KEGI) in Florida, where the AFRL conducted a demonstration of its capabilities in 2023. There, CLUE will begin by integrating flights of small UAS (weighing less than 70 pounds) before moving to larger designs, including electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis such as Joby Aviation’s five-seat S4.

Joby, partnering with AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation arm, earlier this year committed to deliver two air taxis to MacDill and has also shipped a prototype aircraft to Edwards AFB in California.

MacDill in May also hosted flights of a KC-135 Stratotanker equipped with an autonomous flight system from developer Merlin Labs, which is designed to one day enable fully remote flights. That technology, as well as systems from fellow AFWERX collaborators Xwing and Reliable Robotics, could one day be integrated into the CLUE UTM.

AFWERX and the AFRL are not the only government entities studying UTM systems. The Air Force is working with NASA to build a digital operations center for drones and electric air taxis nationwide and is collaborating with the FAA to integrate novel and uncrewed aircraft with air traffic control and other systems within the national airspace.

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The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) on Monday announced the launch of a drone and uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) program, joining the more than 1,500 police departments nationwide that deploy the buzzing aircraft as eyes in the sky—and raising privacy concerns from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The MPD says it will provide public notice of drone flights “when feasible,” but some operations will occur without public announcement. Flight logs will be available on the department’s website.

“We know that MPD’s Air Support Unit (ASU) plays an important role in driving down crime and keeping our community safe, and these upgrades are going to support that work,” Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, D.C., said in a statement Monday.

The MPD also put down $6.2 million on a new Airbus H-125 helicopter for the ASU, which it says is faster, swifter, and better performing than the model it will replace.

As of Monday, the ASU so far this year has helped officers make 76 arrests, completed 100 “photo missions,” including crowd management operations, and performed hundreds of safety checks on drivers, boaters, hikers, and pedestrians.

The MPD describes the UAS program’s five Anafi drones, built by U.S. manufacturer Parrot and procured for around $15,000 each, as “critical investments” aimed at driving down crime in the District. According to crime statistics released by the MPD, total crime in the district rose by 26 percent and violent crime by 39 percent between 2022 and 2023. As of Tuesday, total and violent crime are down 17 percent and 27 percent, respectively, year to date.

Each drone is equipped with cameras and can fly for about 30 minutes without recharging. Per the Washington Informer newspaper, 20 certified drone operators have so far completed a 40-hour MPD training course to earn FAA Part 107 certification.

The aircraft will not fly around sensitive locations such as the White House or Capitol building that are part of D.C.’s No Drone Zone. Operations within that area require the FAA’s signoff.

The drones and helicopter will feed live video to the MPD’s Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC), a facility opened earlier this year that is staffed around the clock by local, regional, and federal law enforcement “to monitor and respond to criminal activities in real time.”

The center also analyzes data from emergency calls, CCTV cameras and license plates—the district’s recently approved fiscal year 2025 budget allocates funding for 200 more CCTV cameras and 47 license plate readers. This data, which may now include drone footage of a car crash or criminal suspect, for example, can be shared up and down the law enforcement hierarchy. Some have concerns about how it could be used.

“The growing use of surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies without limits, transparency, and accountability is deeply concerning,” said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU’s D.C. branch, in a statement viewed by FLYING. “Drones are a powerful and novel surveillance technology, and the district’s police drone expansion simply does not have sufficient guardrails to ensure our privacy and security.”

What They’re For

Some District residents, understandably, have concerns about how the police will use UAS.

Each MPD drone will transmit data and provide the ASU with a real-time, bird’s-eye view of crime scenes. According to the department, the ability to fly at lower altitude than a police helicopter allows drones to produce better quality imaging and access hard-to-reach places. The aircraft could also keep officers out of harm’s way, such as during a bomb threat situation.

Drones will be deployed to survey for missing persons, assist in water searches, reconstruct traffic crashes, and carry out warrants that are considered high risk. At large gatherings, including “First Amendment assemblies” such as protests, they cannot be used to track individual participants. But flights over people “while performing other police functions” such as crowd control are fair game.

UAS will also be used to track “dangerous subjects,” according to Bowser and MPD Chief Pamela Smith. The suspect must be armed and hiding in a defined area that would pose a risk of injury or death to an officer. The drone can only be deployed when surveillance and containment are determined to be “the safest tactics for apprehension.”

In addition, drones will support operations of the MPD’s Emergency Response Team and Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Harbor Patrol units.

Operations will be conducted by a licensed remote pilot in command (RPIC) within the MPD’s Homeland Security Bureau (HSB) or ASU, who will perform preflight checks, postflight assessments, and documentation of all operations. So far only one flight is publicly listed: a training mission on June 13.

What’s Off Limits?

The MPD on its website says all drone operations “will be conducted in a manner consistent with constitutional rights and legal standards.” The aircraft will be grounded in high winds, heavy rain, or low visibility, for example, and cannot violate FAA regulations such as temporary flight restrictions.

Deployment on the basis of identity, including race, religion, gender, and age, will be prohibited. Detractors of the program, though, may note that a similar restriction was placed on New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy, which a federal judge found unconstitutional because it led to racial discrimination.

In the city of Chula Vista, California, home to arguably the country’s most robust police drone program, Wired magazine found that the aircraft disproportionately fly over—and film—poorer neighborhoods, which themselves are disproportionately populated by people of color, en route to their final destination. The poorer the neighborhood, the higher the likelihood of exposure to drones. The aircraft reportedly fly routinely over schools, hospitals, and religious institutions.

The Chula Vista Police Department told FLYING that these neighborhoods receive more exposure because drones are responding to a higher volume of 911 calls or officer calls for assistance, for example.

FLYING asked the MPD if cameras will continue to roll as the drones travel to their ultimate destination. The department did not confirm or deny this, saying that the aircraft will not fly far to get to the scene of a call.

Like other evidence, drone footage will be downloaded, categorized, and retained in an online database and can only be used “for official law enforcement purposes.” The public can request video via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In Chula Vista, however, attempts to have that footage released to the public via the courts have largely been an uphill battle.

Drones will not be allowed to carry weapons, including munitions such as tear gas or rubber bullets. Facial recognition software is also off-limits. Speaking at a press conference Monday, Smith said that the aircraft will not contain artificial intelligence, serve as first responders, or be used for general surveillance.

However, a general order outlining the program further mentions that UAS could be deployed for “exigent circumstances” approved by the HSB. The wording makes exceptions for quick deployments when a person is in immediate danger, for example, but defers some discretion from federal regulators like the FAA to the MPD’s Special Operations Division (SOD).

Who’s in Charge?

MPD drone operations will be overseen by an ASU supervisor, RPIC, and at least one visual observer (VO). Outdoors, flights must be within the line of sight of the RPIC or VO. Personnel will establish perimeters around those areas and try to keep them clear of people.

Deployments submitted to the RTCC by watch commanders will be approved or denied by the SOD commanding officer in consultation with an HSB-appointed drone program manager.

The RPIC must notify the RTCC before flying and document the reason for the flight (including whether or not a warrant was obtained), date, location, start and end times, and names of the people who approved the deployment. 

In “exigent circumstances,” they must also describe why a drone was required. According to Wired, in Chula Vista, one in every 10 flights listed publicly on the police department’s website—or nearly 500—had no stated purpose and was not linked to a 911 call.

In the event of a crash, the drone program manager is required to alert the SOD commander and may need to complete a report, conduct an investigation, or alert the FAA within 10 days, depending on the severity.

The MPD encouraged concerned residents to reach out to their representatives directly or through online or community channels.

“MPD will collaborate with community stakeholders to address any concerns or questions regarding drone operations,” it says on its website.

A Divided Public

On Monday, Smith said she expects the size and capabilities of the department’s drone fleet to change in the near future. In the days leading up to the program’s rollout, the MPD chief met with community members and other stakeholders, who mostly offered their support so long as the program actually has an effect on crime.

Karen Gaal, an alumna of the MPD’s Community Engagement Academy who met with Smith last week, told the Informer that most alumni supported the new drone measures.

Other community members, however, feel that the program was sprung on them.

Wendy Hamilton, chair of the district’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission (AND) 8D—one of several groups of locally elected neighborhood representatives—said information on the drone program was buried in the MPD’s Monday announcement and caught ANC officials by surprise.

Hamilton, who also met with Smith last week, criticized the MPD’s lack of data to support drones as a solution for reducing crime—a sentiment echoed by Jamila White, who represented Ward 8A at the meeting.

“Are the drones looking for crime? Are they going to be concentrated on certain apartment complexes? There’s a lot of questions,” White told the Informer.

In a statement provided to FLYING, Hopkins added: “The Fourth Amendment gives people the right to live without the suspicionless mass surveillance that this drone program could enable. If a police drone flies over my neighborhood, what will it capture, and how will the information be used? If neighborhood kids are playing with an airsoft gun, is their house going to get raided by a SWAT team? Will we need to worry that a police drone is looking through the windows into our living rooms?”

Concerned residents can look to other police drone programs for some answers.

MTA drones will not be deployed as first responders as they are in Chula Vista. But the initiative could suffer from the same symptoms as that program, like the collection of police footage of poor neighborhoods.

Wired reported that most of the Chula Vista residents it interviewed support the program. But a few have concerns. Some said they feel scared walking down the street, at the public pool, and even in their own backyards due to the perception of near-constant drone surveillance.

Since 2018, the city’s police department has made about 20,000 drone flights, assisting in nearly 2,800 arrests. According to the latest data, the majority of cases involve disturbances, domestic violence, and involuntary holds on people suffering mental health crises. But they are sometimes used to respond to more minor incidents such as shoplifting, vandalism, and noise complaints.

The good news is that there is legal precedent against using drones for general surveillance. In 2021, U.S Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a controversial drone surveillance program by the Baltimore Police Department, which contracted with a private company to fly camera-equipped planes over the city.

The ACLU, which supported the FAA’s implementation of remote identification for drones, still calls for greater oversight on DFR programs, such as by having public representatives, rather than police departments, draw up policies on drone usage.

But according to the Cato Institute, nearly 6 in 10 Americans support police use of drones. As adoption by law enforcement continues to rise, greater restrictions on the aircraft may require citizens with privacy concerns to speak up.

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Walmart on Thursday announced that later this month, customers in the fast-growing Dallas-Fort Worth area will be able to order drone delivery directly through the company’s app, with orders arriving in as little as 30 minutes.

Since introducing drone delivery in 2021, Walmart says it has completed more than 30,000 deliveries. As of January, the firm’s DFW service—operated in partnership with industry titans Zipline and Wing, the drone delivery arm of Google parent Alphabet—covers an estimated 1.8 million households.

Not all of these customers will be eligible for drone delivery through the Walmart app, at least not at first.

The retailer described the integration as a phased rollout that will add customers “as more drone delivery sites launch and drone providers receive additional regulatory approvals to fly more goods across greater distances.” Those eligible for delivery, based on the address linked to their account, will be notified through the app.

It’s unclear exactly which regulatory approvals to which Walmart is referring. But it’s worth noting that Zipline, Wing, and another Walmart partner, DroneUp, have all received beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) exemptions from the FAA.

The approval, awarded on a case-by-case basis, allows drone delivery firms to remove the visual observers (VOs) the agency normally requires to keep an eye on the aircraft. Typically, VOs are replaced by a combination of detect-and-avoid technology and remote pilots. The companies believe this reduced human capital will allow them to fly longer routes.

Walmart first enlisted Wing for its DFW service in August, and the partners now fly out of four Walmart stores located in the suburbs. The drone delivery firm has made a point of building technology that can integrate with its partners’ existing networks.

Physical infrastructure is limited to a fenced-in area that typically takes up a fraction of the store’s parking space. The company is also developing a device called the Autoloader, which enables what is essentially curbside pickup, but using drones. Rather than loading orders into the aircraft themselves, store associates would simply place them on the curb, and the Autoloader would do the rest.

Another recent innovation is a suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow partners to add drone delivery directly to their e-commerce platforms—a tool Walmart will now leverage.

“Our goal is to make drone delivery completely seamless for our partners and their customers,” said Adam Woodworth, CEO of Wing. “When Wing drone delivery is available within the Walmart app later this month, customers will have a wider selection and a better shopping experience than ever before. This is a major step toward making drone delivery a part of everyday life.”

The company also has a drone delivery integration with DoorDash, which in 2022 became the first company to make a service available through a third-party app. The partnership began in Australia, Wing’s largest market. But the firm in March added fast-food delivery from Wendy’s in Christiansburg, Virginia, through the DoorDash app.

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The manufacturer describes the Wingman model as a “fighter-type drone” that could be commanded by the pilot of an existing combat aircraft, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Like a wingman in the traditional military aviation sense, it would support the mission lead with augmented capabilities. But unlike crewed fighter aircraft, it could take on high-risk missions that pose a threat to human personnel, receiving commands from a pilot that is shielded from exposure to risk.

“The German Air Force has expressed a clear need for an unmanned aircraft flying with and supporting missions of its manned fighter jets before the Future Combat Air System [FCAS] will be operational in 2040,” said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. “We will further drive and fine-tune this innovation made in Germany so that ultimately we can offer the German Air Force an affordable solution with the performance it needs to maximize the effects and multiply the power of its fighter fleet for the 2030s.”

FCAS is a European defense and security initiative aiming to develop a “system of systems” that delivers all of the capabilities and functionality of its constituent subsystems. Airbus co-leads the program alongside Dassault Aviation and Spain’s Indra Sistemas.

At the core of FCAS will be a Next Generation Weapon System, in which uncrewed remote carriers work together with a New Generation Fighter (NGF): a sixth-generation fighter jet intended to replace Germany’s Typhoons, France’s Dassault Rafales, and Spain’s McDonnell-Douglas EF-18 Hornets by the 2040s.

Both the uncrewed aircraft and NGF will be connected to a “Combat Cloud” comprising sensor nodes in space, in the air, on the ground, at sea and in cyberspace.

“[Remote carriers] will fly in close cooperation with manned aircraft, supporting pilots in their tasks and missions,” Airbus explains on its website. “Military transport aircraft such as Airbus’ A400M will play an important role: as motherships, they will bring the Remote Carriers as close as possible to their areas of operation before releasing up to 50 small—or as many as 12 heavy—remote carriers.”

According to Airbus, Wingman is designed to carry weapons and “other effectors.” It would be able to perform a range of tasks, including reconnaissance, target jamming, and firing missiles. Pilots would always be in control and act as the final decision makers from the safety of a larger aircraft, allowing the uncrewed aircraft to do the work.

“An additional focus is on increasing the overall combat mass in an affordable manner so that air forces can match the number of opposing forces in peers or near-peers in conflicts,” Airbus said Monday.

The company said the 1:1 Wingman model on display at ILA Berlin will be akin to a “show car,” featuring various concepts and capabilities that may not make it onto the final design.

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