Huangling, which is a countryside destination in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province, China, has partnered with DJI to launch an aerial photography base in the village. The airspace around the village will be open to UAS enthusiasts, giving them the opportunity to use their systems for video-taking and photography purposes. “We are thrilled to work with DJI to give visitors an exciting new way to view and appreciate the beauty of Huangling,” says Wu Xiangyang, CEO of Wuyuan Rural Culture Development Co., Ltd.

Unmanned systems from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have successfully completed a “proof of concept” to high officials of the defense industry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Air Hopper unmanned helicopter, which was recently developed by IAI and is mainly used for providing “fast logistic supplies to sites where ground access is difficult or dangerous,” took part in a two-scenario demonstration. One scenario simulated carrying a soldier that was seriously injured to an extraction point for “life-saving treatment, airborne monitoring of vital signs and real-time dispatch to the ground.” The second scenario simulated “carrying logistic supplies to an isolated force at the front line” which wouldn't be accessible without putting more troops at risk.

The first part of the 50-mile Unmanned Traffic Management Corridor in New York has launched. The corridor now consists of a five-mile circle around Griffiss International Airport. That part of the corridor is equipped with special sensors and radars that can detect small UAS flying at very low altitudes, which is a feature that is not included in traditional radars around airports. Using $30 million in state funding, the corridor will be expanded next year into a “50-mile-long air space” stretching from Rome to Syracuse, according to Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR) President and CEO Larry Brinker.

Robbie Hood, the UAS program director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has retired after three decades of government service. Hood founded the UAS program at NOAA and led the introduction of unmanned systems to the agency, which has used them for years to better understand weather and improve forecasting. According to NOAA, the Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) program was the highpoint of her career. SHOUT used NASA’s Global Hawk to study storms, including by using high-altitude dropsondes that could measure wind speed and other attributes within storms. SHOUT proved that using unmanned systems to aid in weather forecasting is feasible.