DARPA’s Lift Challenge pushes drone payload-to-weight limits, with Avidrone winning by carrying 3.84 times its weight over a 5-mi. course.

Ampaire has begun hybrid-electric flight operations in Utah under the FAA eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.

Joby Aviation is accelerating aircraft production and manufacturing as it prepares to begin flights under the U.S. eVTOL Integration Pilot Program in September.

China’s NUAA completes the first flight of its Qizhi-5 tiltrotor UAS, advancing long-range vertical-lift technology with a 1,900 km range.

U.S. startup Impact Drones has launched out of stealth offering drone interceptors as a service to protect data centers, airports, power grids and other infrastructure.

Beta Technologies has secured about $830 million in additional financing from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. to ramp up manufacturing.

The decision by South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace to terminate a contract to supply actuators to electric air taxi developer Vertical Aerospace was mutually agreed to and a new supplier is onboard, the UK startup says.

UK telecommunications firm BT says it is seeing growing adoption of cellular connectivity as the primary communications link for low-altitude uncrewed aircraft systems.