NOAA and Saildrone Inc. are piloting five specially designed surface drones in the Atlantic Ocean to gather data around the clock to help understand the physical processes of hurricanes. NOAA and Saildrone Inc. are piloting five specially designed surface drones in the Atlantic Ocean to gather data around the clock to help understand the physical processes of hurricanes. Researchers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have dispatched a surface drone inside Hurricane Sam as it barrels toward the Caribbean, giving scientists a new perspective of what it's like inside such a storm. The video and images shared were the first of their kind gathered by an "uncrewed surface vehicle" from inside a major hurricane as it moved across the Atlantic Ocean. The onboard camera shows eerily gray skies and turbulent ocean waters.

Afghanistan War veteran Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, weigh the consequences of Biden's overseas withdrawal. A senior al Qaeda leader has been killed in a drone strike in Syria, U.S. defense officials confirmed to Fox News Thursday. Salim Abu-Ahmad was killed in a U.S. airstrike near Idlib, Syria on Sept. 20. He was responsible for planning, funding, and approving trans-regional al Qaeda attacks. A U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a Hellfire missile flies over an air base after flying a mission in the Persian Gulf region.

Robotics is the next frontier in the progress of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as the real world in which robots operate represents an enormous, complex, continuous state space with inherent real-time requirements. One extreme challenge in robotics is currently formed by autonomous drone racing. Human drone racers can fly through complex tracks at speeds of up to 190 km/h. Achieving similar speeds with autonomous drones signifies tackling fundamental problems in AI under extreme restrictions in terms of resources. In this article, we present the winning solution of the first AI Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit, a competition consisting of four races in which all participating teams used the same drone, to which they had limited access. The core of our approach is inspired by how human pilots combine noisy observations of the race gates with their mental model of the drone's dynamics to achieve fast control. Our approach has a large focus on gate detection with an efficient deep neural segmentation network and active vision. Further, we make contributions to robust state estimation and risk-based control. This allowed us to reach speeds of ~9.2m/s in the last race, unrivaled by previous autonomous drone race competitions. Although our solution was the fastest and most robust, it still lost against one of the best human pilots, Gab707. The presented approach indicates a promising direction to close the gap with human drone pilots, forming an important step in bringing AI to the real world.

The Taliban on Wednesday warned the U.S. against flying drones over its "sacred airspace" or there could be "negative consequences." "We recently saw [the] United States violating all international rights, laws and … commitments made to the [Taliban] in Doha, Qatar, as Afghanistan's sacred airspace is being invaded by U.S. drones," a spokesperson said on Twitter. "We call on all countries, especially [the] United States, to treat Afghanistan in light of international rights, laws and commitments … in order to prevent any negative consequences." The Pentagon did not reply to the Taliban warnings and instead directed Fox News to comments made by press secretary John Kirby, who said the U.S. retains "all necessary authorities to execute over-the-horizon counterterrorism operations." "We remain confident in these capabilities moving forward," he told reporters Friday.

Tuesday, top U.S. military officials publicly acknowledged they advised President Joe Biden to keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan despite the president's claim otherwise. This amid multiple sources confirming extremist organizations such al-Qaeda and ISIS-K are still present in Afghanistan and remain a rising threat to U.S. national security. While Tuesday's Senate hearing was a productive start to this investigation, I am looking forward to asking General Mark Milley, Secretary Lloyd Austin, and General Kenneth McKenzie questions in Wednesday's House Armed Services Committee Hearing. Leading up to the Biden Administration's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the president touted an "over-the-horizon" capability that would allow the U.S. to identify and eliminate threats from afar. The Biden administration has claimed the U.S. did not need a counterterrorism force in Afghanistan because the U.S. possessed significant intelligence and military capability to attack and eliminate terrorist threats reaching into Afghanistan from other U.S. military locations. However, Biden's withdrawal left a gap in intelligence gathering capabilities that has caused targeting decisions to be made with incomplete information, with increased risk and assumptions, and outside the norms of standard protocols.

China, in the midst of a significant upgrade of its military forces and purported arms race with the U.S., showed off a new drone that has a wingspan of nearly 70 feet and can fly continuously for almost a full day. Known as the CH-6 drone, it is'aimed at high-end arms and dual-use markets,' according to Chinese news outlet, Global Times. The drone - built by CH UAV - can fly continuously for 20 hours and reach speeds of 435 miles per hour, the news outlet added. It can also reach heights of almost 50,000 feet. It is the latest step in a growing arms race between China and the US, as the Chinese seek to overhaul their military.

China on Tuesday showed off its increasingly sophisticated air power including surveillance drones, with an eye on disputed territories from Taiwan to the South China Sea and its rivalry with the United States. The country's biggest airshow, in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai, comes as Beijing pushes to meet a 2035 deadline to retool its military for modern warfare. China still lags the United States in terms of tech and investment in its war machine, but experts say it is narrowing the gap. On Tuesday, the air force aerobatic team left colourful vapour trails as it manoeuvred in formation, while visitors inspected new jets, drones and attack helicopters on the tarmac. The CH-6, a prototype drone with a wingspan of 20.5 metres (67 feet), was among the domestic tech unveiled.

An autonomous bus has a test drive with passengers aboard in Qingdao, Shandong province on Sept 19. International carmakers are partnering with Chinese companies to tailor autonomous driving solutions for their vehicles sold in the world's largest vehicle market. Last week, the largest carmaker in the United States said it is investing $300 million in Chinese autonomous driving startup Momenta. The deal is expected to accelerate General Motors' development of self-driving technologies for its vehicles in China, said Julian Blissett, executive vice-president of GM and president of GM China. "Customers in China are embracing electrification and advanced self-driving technology faster than anywhere else in the world," Blissett said.

China on Tuesday showed off its increasingly sophisticated air power including surveillance drones and jets able to jam hostile electronic equipment, with an eye on disputed territories from Taiwan to the South China Sea and rivalry with the United States. The country's biggest airshow, in the southern coastal city of Zhuhai, comes as Beijing pushes to meet a 2035 deadline to retool its military for modern warfare. China still lags the United States in terms of tech and investment in its war machine, but experts say it is narrowing the gap. On Tuesday, a prototype of a new surveillance drone able to carry out attacks -- the CH-6 -- was among domestic tech unveiled in Zhuhai. China's WZ-7 high-altitude drone for border reconnaissance and maritime patrol has already entered service with the air force, according to state media Photo: AFP / Noel Celis With a wingspan of 20.5 metres (67 feet) and 15.8 metres long, the drone can carry missiles and is designed for surveillance and strike operations, according to open source intelligence agency Janes. Other debutants include the WZ-7 high-altitude drone for border reconnaissance and maritime patrol, as well as the J-16D fighter jet which can jam electronic equipment.

Left-wing activist Michael Moore claimed Sunday that U.S. defense policy and spending should be refocused from military involvement in other countries to instead fight climate change, White supremacy and the coronavirus pandemic. Appearing on MSNBC, Moore suggested U.S. armed forces weren't "the good guys" because of their military involvement in countries like Syria and Somalia, and instead claimed he wanted to be known for doing "the good things," like building wells in poor villages rather than provide funding to Israel's Iron Dome defense system. "As we speak tonight the U.S. still has 2,500 troops in Iraq. Last week the U.S. military admitted that a drone strike in Kabul that killed ten innocent civilians was an American drone strike. Seven of them were kids. We talk about ending the war but we're still going to carry on with drones, we're still going to carry on with these, quote, over-the-horizon operations. You know, we are still at war," host Mehdi Hasan said after playing a clip of President Joe Biden touting the U.S. not being at war for the first time in 20 years.