UK

UK companies BT and unified traffic management (UTM) specialist Altitude Angel have struck a deal, combining their work building the nation’s 165-mile drone superhighway based on an agreement that gives the telecom giant an equity stake in the start-up.

The UK’s Royal Navy has long pursued a variety of UAVs and related systems to assist and improve operations of its forces around the world, but now its specialized aviation tech unit has taken a step further by finally producing a drone of its very own.

In another indication of how the effectiveness of smaller UAVs in conflict situations like Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian troops is leading modern armies to integrate the craft in ever larger numbers, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ordered $156.6 million in portable drones for deployment by its armed forces.

German electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Lilium says it has secured a deal with a UK air services provider for 10 confirmed orders for the Pioneer Edition of its advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles, and an option for another 10 – nearly half of the 50 luxury planes the company plans to produce.

A UK consortium of companies has launched a two-year, high-intensity autonomous drone operations (HALO) project to develop and test an uncrewed aircraft traffic management system (UTM) capable of integrating around the clock UAV flights at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Although not ready for deployment just yet, a new UK anti-drone weapon known as DragonFire has delivered some impressive results in testing at the very time people in Ukraine are hoping for new tech capable of neutralizing the brutal missile and UAV attacks on the nation’s cities.

British Transport Police are teaming up with Network Rail – the owner and operator of most of the UK’s train infrastructure – in deploying drones to combat what has become a very time- and money-consuming problem in recent years: delays due to trespassers on or around tracks.

In response to the summer’s record heat waves amid an enduring period of drought, UK utility Anglian Water moved to ramp up its use of drones to spot pipeline leaks faster – an effort that has already spared the company and its customers countless gallons of expensive wasted seepage.

Europe’s middle-mile drone delivery specialist Dronamics is moving to make its flagship Black Swan UAVs entirely carbon neutral through a linkup with UK company Zero Petroleum to supply fossil-free fuel for future aerial cargo transport.

Drone pilots in central London hoping to capture aerial footage of this week’s historic royal funeral events are having to change their plans after officials banned all UAV flights above the heart of the capital until the queen’s burial Monday.

The consortium promising to build the world’s first nationwide medical drone transportation network in Scotland has taken another step toward attaining that goal with the official kickoff of the project’s second phase of activity. 

Police officers in England’s south coast city of Bournemouth confiscated at least seven drones operating illegally within the no-fly zone established during a multi-day airshow that wrapped up yesterday.

Suspicious or aggressive behavior toward drone use in public areas is, alas, nothing new, but a video uploaded to social media this week captured that aerial aggro at a higher level, showing the pilot being threatened by a man waving a firearm in the UK – a nation known for very strict gun laws.

The UK and Norway are sending more than $9 million worth of Teledyne Flir Black Hornet micro drones to Ukraine to aid the nation’s battle against Russia’s invasion.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking to accelerate development of a heavy-lift drone in support of the Royal Navy’s vision to revolutionize its resupplying of ships at sea by using UAVs rather than traditional aircraft like helicopters.

If aerial activity tracks changes in how societies are modifying funeral services, the demand for drone pilots qualified to scatter cremation ashes from on high may soon rise, as developments in the UK seem to suggest.

A trio of hospitals in the UK’s northwest is set to begin receiving blood and other patient lab samples by drones using designated air corridors over Morecambe Bay, with the objective of cutting transport time of using frequently clogged roads surrounding the large estuary.

In recent years, aerial tech both large and small has been developed and deployed for a rapidly expanding number of uses – from business applications to research, photography to firefighting, leisure flight to warfare. This weekend, a pilot in Northern Ireland city of Belfast took his drone to the sky to capture video of one neighborhood’s annual celebration for posterity – notably, this year’s truly insane “wheelie bin” garbage can race.

A group of aviation and drone sector companies in the UK are banding together to work toward increased use cases and frequency of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights across the nation, and propose policies to regulators permitting wider deployment of those missions.

A consortium of national health care and UAV organizations in Scotland has secured funding for the launch of what it says will be the UK’s first country-wide drone medical delivery and distribution system. 

The UK government has released a study it commissioned on the effects of drone activity in coming years, with best-case scenarios in it forecasting an additional $54 billion in economic growth and 650,000 potential new jobs by 2030.