Industry & Contracts
Drone industry news from UASFeed — procurement awards, defense primes and startups, funding rounds, and the business of uncrewed systems.
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Industry & Contracts
FCC Moves to Cut Off Every Mainland-China Test Lab by Dec. 1, 2028, and the Drone Supply Chain Will Feel It
The FCC votes Oct. 29 on rules that would end recognition of every test lab outside the US and 'reciprocal economies' on Dec. 1, 2028. China-based labs tested more than 82% of 2025 applications, so any drone or radio maker certifying through Shenzhen has two years to move.
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Industry & Contracts
EDGE Signs to Arm Morocco's Combat Drones With Desert Sting 16 and Thunder P-31 Guided Weapons
At the Marrakech Air Show, UAE group EDGE won a contract to fit DESERT STING 16 and THUNDER P-31 guided weapons across the Royal Moroccan Air Force's fleet of Turkish- and Chinese-built combat drones. It also signed a local-production MoU. The value is undisclosed and the integration questions are still open.
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Industry & Contracts
NIOA and AeroVironment Sign Switchblade Partnership as Australia Looks to Localize Loitering-Munition Support
At Land Forces 2026, NIOA became AeroVironment's local partner for Switchblade and AV's wider loitering-munition portfolio in Australia and New Zealand. The deal covers distribution, sustainment and growth, but it names no contract value and makes no firm commitment to build anything locally.
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Industry & Contracts
Shield AI Puts Hivemind Autonomy on Australia's OWL Loitering Munitions
At Land Forces 2026 in Perth, Shield AI and Innovaero signed an MoU to put Hivemind mission autonomy on the Australian-designed OWL loitering munition family. The software is already on the electric OWL-B ahead of flight tests, but no deal value or ADF order has been disclosed.
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Industry & Contracts
Anduril's $3.7B Arsenal-2: What the Maryland Shipyard Announcement Says, and What Trump's 'Drone Sub' Pitch Adds
Anduril's $3.7B Arsenal-2 shipyard at Sparrows Point is meant to build Virginia-class submarine parts, starting with torpedo tubes, under a Navy deal worth up to $2.9B. The president's talk of drone subs and a 40% taxpayer stake doesn't appear in any official release.
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Industry & Contracts
Zing Drone Solutions Tests Korean Radio Modules While the FCC's Covered List Treats Allied Parts Like Any Other Foreign Component
Oregon Remote ID maker Zing Drone Solutions is evaluating Wi-Fi/BLE modules from Seoul's NUCODE under a new MOU, but the FCC's foreign-component rule has no ally carve-out, and nobody has said whether a general-purpose radio counts as a drone critical component.
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Industry & Contracts
Northrop's Self-Funded Talon Blue Flies, Putting a Third Contender in the Air Force's Next CCA Round
Northrop's company-funded YFQ-48A Talon Blue flew itself from taxi to landing at Mojave on Oct. 3, about 15 months after concept, and it now goes after an Air Force CCA Increment 2 competition whose requirements are still undefined.
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Industry & Contracts
Textron and Merlin Unveil an Uncrewed SkyCourier for Contested Logistics
Textron Aviation and Merlin revealed the SkyCourier UX, an uncrewed cargo variant of the Cessna SkyCourier built for autonomous short-field delivery in contested military logistics.
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Industry & Contracts
Saronic Breaks Ground on $3 Billion Port Alpha, a Shipyard Built Around Autonomous Vessels
Saronic broke ground Sept. 30 on Port Alpha at the Port of Brownsville, Texas: a $3B-plus private shipyard on 835 acres designed to build autonomous and manned ships, with operations targeted as soon as 2028.
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Industry & Contracts
Powerus Set to Close Merger With Aureus Greenway, Putting a Counter-Drone and FPV Maker on Nasdaq
Powerus was expected to close its reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed Aureus Greenway on Oct. 1 and trade as PUSA, but its headline $90M Air Force deal is a ceiling, not guaranteed revenue.
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Industry & Contracts
Amprius's $75M Pentagon Drone-Battery Grant: Only About $22M Is Funded, and the Line Belongs to a Korean Partner
Amprius's Pentagon agreement is worth up to $75M, but its SEC filing shows only about $22M obligated so far, and the production line to be converted is run by an unnamed South Korean manufacturer.
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Industry & Contracts
Matternet Unveils M3 With an 11-Pound Payload, but the FAA Certificate That Took the M2 22 Months Doesn't Exist Yet
Matternet's new M3 carries 11 lb over a 10-mile radius and targets commercial service in 2H 2027, but no FAA airworthiness criteria for it have been published, and the M2's took 22 months from proposal to final.
