Free Republic

With shark sightings on the rise along much of the Northeast coast this summer, the New York Police Department (NYPD) is using drones to patrol city beaches, giving lifeguards an aerial view to spot sharks before they get too close to swimmers. The NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) uses drones for a wide range of public safety missions — from rescuing distressed swimmers and assisting search-and-rescue operations to monitoring crowded beaches and tracking sharks offshore. Working alongside lifeguards, officers in the specialized, high-tech unit patrol the skies above city beaches, providing a precautionary aerial line of defense against the...

California Forever, a controversial project with aspirations to expand Solano County by up to 400,000 residents, was dealt a blow last week as a $3 billion contract went to Texas instead. California Forever first became known to the public in 2024, when reports surfaced that a shadowy group of billionaires had purchased 65,000 largely rural acres around Suisun City and Rio Vista, making it the largest landowner in Solano County. The group announced it planned to build a new city with its acquisitions, but the idea was widely unpopular in the county. Amid dire polling numbers, California Forever pulled a...

Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq reported drone attacks in their territory Monday amid a lull in US air strikes against Iran, after nearly two weeks of fighting between both sides. The Israel Defense Forces said Monday morning that it shot down two drones over the Jordan border, near the Dead Sea, adding that the drones did not cross into Israeli territory. Their origin was under investigation, the army said. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry, meanwhile, said it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets, some in its eastern province and others in the capital Riyadh. It said the drones had...

A Ukrainian strike last weekend on an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea has underscored the links between the wars that the two countries are fighting, raising tensions between them as well as the risk of more direct confrontation. Ukraine said the ship was carrying military equipment between Iran and Russia. Iranian officials said it was a commercial vessel, and it accused Ukraine of killing a sailor in the attack. ................ Iran and Russia have had a close military relationship for decades. The most visible recent example of this is the long-range attack drones that Tehran has supplied to...

Ukrainian drones have hit warehouses belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer again, injuring 15 people, according to the company's founder and regional governors. Logistics hubs run by Wildberries in two south-west cities were impacted by overnight attacks and workers evacuated, the founder said. It is the second time Ukraine has attacked the firm's facilities in four days, with warehouses in Tambov and Elektrostal hit over the weekend, killing eight people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukraine had hit logistics hubs in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions "involved in providing the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment...

The proposed Massed Modular Aircraft would not necessarily replace every capability of the MQ-9 Reaper. The Pentagon wants these low-cost drones to feature modular designs. GA The U.S. Department of Defense is searching for a new generation of low-cost combat drones that can perform many of the same missions as the MQ-9A Reaper without carrying its hefty price tag. The step suggests a major shift in military approach as modern battlefields increasingly favor large numbers of affordable, expendable drones over a smaller fleet of expensive aircraft. Low-cost, long-range unmanned aircraft For this, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has launched...

After its unmanned vessels recently drew attention in the Iran war, Saronic Technologies, a shipbuilding start-up, announced on Thursday that it would open a new facility in the United States to make both naval and commercial ships. Saronic’s chief executive, Dino Mavrookas, said the company would break ground this year on an 850-acre shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, and begin building vessels there by 2028. Last month, the U.S. military used a Saronic drone boat to rescue the two-person crew of a downed Apache attack helicopter off the coast of Oman. This week, three of its vessels were used to attack...

The average life expectancy for a Russian soldier entering battle in Ukraine is 20 to 30 minutes, Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday. Ratcliffe was speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, where he attributed the deadly conditions to Ukraine's combat drones equipped with AI. "What I would say is, our intelligence is consistent with some of the open-source reporting you may have seen in Ukraine," Ratcliffe said. "So the average life expectancy of a Russian recruit, right now, arriving on the battlefield in Ukraine, is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes." "And that's...

Ukraine has carried out what it described as the first known fully robotic amphibious assault, using a naval drone to transport an armed ground robot into Russian-occupied territory. The operation was announced on Monday by Ukraine’s 123rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade. According to the brigade, a naval drone was remotely guided across the Black Sea toward the Kinburn Spit, located at the end of Ukraine’s Kinburn Peninsula and directly west of Kherson. Once the maritime drone reached the coast, it deployed an uncrewed ground vehicle fitted with a mounted machine gun.

The United States has taken delivery of 2,000 Ukrainian F10 attack drones after manufacturer F-Drones secured a Pentagon contract during the opening phase of the Drone Dominance program. The shipment follows Ukraine's first official export permit for completed combat drones, marking a notable change from earlier approvals covering mainly technologies, components, or accessories. The delivery also comes as the Pentagon advances the next stage of its broader $1.1 billion Drone Dominance initiative aimed at expanding domestic and allied unmanned capabilities.

28 Russian Ships Hit in One Night! Tankers and Tugs Suchomimus In the Ukraine War, Ukraine hits 28 Russian shadow fleet tankers and tugs in one night, bringing the total to 76 different vessels hit by drones in six days in the Sea of Azov. This is the work of Magyar group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11kn6vpgzzE

🚨 BREAKING: DOJ has just announced a criminal indictment against 8 people for plotting a massive violent terror attack against the White House while President Trump was there. Up to LIFE IN PRISON. NO MERCY. Maximum punishment! "This alleged plot was DISRUPTED before it could be carried out." The plot was meant for the Freedom 250 UFC White House event — which went on AS PLANNED because the plot was foiled. "The first count is a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists by way of money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical and communications equipment, as well as...

For four years, Russia has bet on outlasting Ukraine in a war of attrition. Now, as Kyiv’s drones inflict growing damage on both Russia’s army and oil industry, Moscow is finding out that time isn’t necessarily on its side. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion force is making ever-smaller gains at the front line, its losses exceed recruitment, and it is struggling to adapt to a Ukrainian drone campaign pounding its supply routes to its forward positions. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s stretched army hasn’t buckled as Russia hoped and is even pushing back the invaders in places with small counterattacks. Its increasingly capable...

Three tankers were struck by projectiles Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, the British military said, in the latest attacks targeting vessels moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. One of the tankers was traveling off the coast of Oman and caught fire, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault. Two other tankers were also hit, including one that was struck by a drone. It was not immediately clear where they were at the...

It comes after another drone-related scare involving a Newark-bound flight just this past Friday. A JetBlue pilot reported hitting a drone as the flight made its approach to John F. Kennedy International Airport Monday, aviation officials say, marking the tri-state's second drone-plane incident in four days.The pilot reported the incident at an altitude of about 3,000 feet while the flight was on its final approach to the Queens hub around 7:15 a.m. Air traffic control radio showed the pilot say, "it hit us right above the cockpit."JetBlue said in a statement that the flight, which had departed from Las...

The Justice Department has announced charges in a “sophisticated” criminal operation that it says used high-powered drones to deliver weapons, drugs, cell phones and escape tools into prisons in east coast states. US Attorney Keyes the middle district of Georgia, Federal Bureau of Prisons and FBI investigators in Atlanta, say the rogue drone operation led out of a former daycare in Macon, Georgia where multiple drones were launched on covert missions to deliver the contraband by air to 10 federal prisons at night. “We’re here to announce the unsealing of an indictment that charges the most sophisticated and sprawling criminal...

Taiwan’s executive branch pitched a $6.6 billion budget last week for the procurement of more than 200,000 domestically-made unmanned systems designed to defend the island’s shores. The proposal will cover up to 208,200 one-way attack drones, 1,446 reconnaissance drones and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense on Friday. A social media post on Sunday from Joseph Wu, the Secretary-General of Taiwan’s National Security Council, claimed that the budget will create an “unmanned shield.” Amid concerns of a potential invasion from China and an increasingly capable People’s Liberation Army, Taipei has turned to unmanned systems to...

The unsettling swarm of drones that a downed US pilot in Iran said moved in a bizarre “jellyfish-like” formation indicates the Iranian regime has devoted significant resources to beefing up its drone program — so it can counter the conventional battlefield tech of its rivals. “They are adapting faster than us,” Brett Velicovich, drone expert and founder of Powerus, told The Post. “Iran has spent years developing capabilities designed to offset the overwhelmingly conventional advantages of the United States and its allies.” The unnamed F-15 pilot, who was rescued April 3 after hiding deep in enemy territory in the Zagros...

U.S. Army Pacific has created a new command that will link Stryker brigades, long-range missile launchers, unmanned vessels and attack drones to break adversary area denial networks, such as those fielded by China.Combining the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams of the 7th Infantry Division with the long-range precision fires, air defense and intelligence capabilities assigned to the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, the Multi-Domain Command – Pacific is the result of years of experimentation across the first island chain.“Our division will employ capabilities such as unmanned surface vessels; long-range, one-way attack drones; and launched effects to penetrate the adversary’s anti-access/area-denial network,” Maj....

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is challenging defense companies to develop a new generation of low-cost air-defense interceptors within a year, a move that could reshape one of the military's most expensive and strategically important weapons markets, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. The initiative, which will be presented to roughly 100 companies ranging from defense startups to established contractors, reflects growing concern that the Pentagon's traditional approach to weapons acquisition has produced systems that are highly capable but difficult to manufacture quickly and affordably at scale. For investors, the effort could create opportunities for defense technology companies focused on mass production,...