– General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and AeroVironment collaborated on the air launch of a Switchblade 600 loitering munition (LM) from a GA-ASI Block 5 MQ-9A unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The flight testing took place from July 22-24 at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds Test Range. It marked the first time a Switchblade 600 […]
A ‘First of its kind’ industrial partnership allows the UK and Ukraine to share detailed designs for cutting-edge air defence drones and other equipment. The UK will manufacture and jointly develop cutting-edge military equipment with Ukrainian industry through a groundbreaking new technology sharing agreement which will support British jobs and strengthen both UK and Ukrainian […]
– AeroVironment, Inc. has announced AV_Halo, a hardware-agnostic software platform that unifies the company’s suite of mission-ready software tools — to include multi-domain command and control (C2), AI-enhanced intelligence analysis, synthetic training, and autonomous targeting — into a single open-standards software ecosystem capable of integrating with any other battle management systems. AV_Halo provides a modular, […]
– SMARTSHOOTER, a designer, developer, and manufacturer of innovative fire control systems, is introducing a new configuration of its combat-proven SMASH 3000: adaptation onto a Heavy Machine Gun (HMG). The new solution will be presented for the first time at the DSEI 2025 exhibition in London. This milestone follows SMARTSHOOTER’s successful participation in Project VANAHEIM/FLYTRAP, […]
Spain’s first SIRTAP unmanned aerial system prototype is now complete and slated to begin ground testing, in an ambitious schedule lasting a good portion of 2026, before the first delivery by 2027. Airbus Defence and Space, which manufactures the system, released a short video on Sep. 4, 2025, showing the aircraft receiving a paint job […]
Republic began with the F-84 as a straight-wing monoplane on tricycle undercarriage with a jet engine in response to a General Operational Requirement in the final year of WW2. While a straight-wing model was eventually produced for frontline service in the Korean War, it was outclassed by the MiG-15’s it faced. What seemed like a […]
At the DSEI 2025 defense and security exhibition, Dedrone by Axon released a new intelligence report, The Current & Future State of Airspace Defense, analyzing detection data gathered in 2025 from its networks across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The report underscores how low-cost, rapidly evolving drone tactics are reshaping battlefields and national security […]
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its version of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes updated language on unmanned aircraft systems of foreign origin. The new provisions build on measures enacted in the FY 2025 NDAA, expanding the scope of equipment and software subject to review when connected to […]
Flytrex, the autonomous drone delivery startup, is betting that a big-name hire can help it finally break through. The company has tapped former Waze CEO and Google vice president Noam Bardin as executive chairman, a move that could give the startup credibility at a moment when the industry faces both new opportunities and longstanding challenges.
Bardin, who turned Waze into a navigation platform with more than 150 million monthly users before its $1.1 billion sale to Google, is stepping in. Bardin joins Flytrex just as it secured a key regulatory win: the FAA recently granted the company Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) approval. That’s key in effectively opening the door for its drones to operate in 37 of the largest metro areas in the U.S. — a potential reach of more than 100 million people.
“This is about the users, not the technology,” Bardin said in an interview with The Drone Girl. “Users don’t care about technology, they care about the service.”
He said Flytrex will first scale in Dallas-Fort Worth, where it already operates, with the goal of adding dozens of new sites this year and covering the entire metro area within 12 months.
Flying high alongside Wing and Zipline
Despite the fresh leadership and regulatory momentum, Flytrex will have to prove it can stand strong against bigger, better-funded rivals. Alphabet-owned Wing and longtime competitor Zipline are already running large-scale drone delivery operations in the U.S. and abroad, with multi-vertical strategies that extend beyond food.
For example, Zipline is a huge player in medical deliveries, primarily in developing countries including Rwanda and Ghana. In 2025, Zipline marked its 100 million mile delivery milestone.
Flytrex, by contrast, is narrowing in on a single use case.
“We are focused solely on food delivery,” Bardin said. “We are optimized for what it takes to deliver meals from restaurants to suburban consumers. We also operate our own, vertically-integrated branded service.”
Flytrex made its name way back in 2017 when it conducted food deliveries via drone in Iceland. A couple years later, it announced that it would expand to the U.S., starting with North Carolina. Since then, it’s grown to other regions including Texas, which is largely considered the leading U.S. state for drone delivery.
Drone delivery skeptics point to one unresolved issue: cost. For years, pilot projects have been subsidized, with profitability elusive. Bardin wouldn’t share financials but argued that the timing is right.
“Across autonomy we are at the inflection point where unit economics are aligning to make massive growth and scale achievable,” he said.
Whether that’s enough to bring down the price of a hot meal compared to a DoorDash driver remains to be seen. Suburban sprawl, regulatory friction and consumer adoption are all potential hurdles.
Can Waze’s playbook work for drones?
Flytrex is betting Bardin’s experience at Waze — scaling a consumer service by focusing relentlessly on user pain points — can be applied to drone delivery.
“We are laser focused on solving their real pain points,” he said.
The appointment signals a fresh push for a company that, despite more than 200,000 deliveries to date, still lags behind Wing and Zipline in visibility and scope. The FAA’s BVLOS approval could level the playing field. The proposed rule to enable routine BVLOS drone operations should also remove red tape.
But history suggests that regulatory wins alone don’t guarantee a sustainable business.
For now, Flytrex is wagering that food delivery, with its mix of urgency and high margins, is the right place to start.
– General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and AeroVironment collaborated on the air launch of a Switchblade 600 loitering munition (LM) from a GA-ASI Block 5 MQ-9A unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The flight testing took place from July 22-24 at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds Test Range. It marked the first time a Switchblade 600 […]
