Wondering what happened to Google's solar internet drone project? Unfortunately, we don't have good news. An Alphabet spokesperson has confirmed to 9to5Google that its X division quietly dropped the Titan project shortly after it folded into X in late 2015. It won't surprise you as to why: Project Loon's high-altitude balloons are a "much more promising" way of getting people online in remote locations, the company says. Staffers who were working on Titan have found their way into other "high flying" initiatives, such as Project Loon and Project Wing.

WASHINGTON – Islamic State jihadis are using small commercial drones to attack Iraqi security forces in the battle for Mosul, a U.S. commander said Wednesday. Col. Brett Sylvia, who commands an "advise and assist" U.S. unit in Iraq, said IS fighters are attaching small munitions to quadcopters in an attempt to kill local forces as they retake Mosul, the last major IS bastion in Iraq. "They are small drones with small munitions that they've been dropping," Sylvia said. While the munitions were no larger than "a small little grenade," he said, that was enough to do what "Daesh does, and that's just, you know, indiscriminate killing," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The group's use of small drones is not new, Sylvia said, though initially they were mainly used for reconnaissance.

This still image taken from drone footage posted online Monday, Jan. 2, 2017 by the Aamaq News Agency, a media arm of the Islamic State group, purports to shows an aerial image of a neighborhood damaged by Turkish airstrikes in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, in Aleppo province, Syria. Nearly two months into the assault, Turkey has become bogged down in an unexpectedly bloody fight to retake the Islamic State group's last stronghold in northern Syria. It has been forced to pour in troops, take the lead in the battle from its Syrian allies and reach out to Russia for aerial support -- a move that tests its alliance with the United States and the Syrian opposition. This still image taken from drone footage posted online Monday, Jan. 2, 2017 by the Aamaq News Agency, a media arm of the Islamic State group, purports to shows an aerial image of a neighborhood damaged by Turkish airstrikes in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, in Aleppo province, Syria. Nearly two months into the assault, Turkey has become bogged down in an unexpectedly bloody fight to retake the Islamic State group's last stronghold in northern Syria.

For years, companies like Facebook and Google have captivated audiences with the prospect of someday beaming Internet access down to earth from drones or satellites flying high above the ground. The dream held particular promise for developing countries where it's often expensive to build cellular towers or lay down physical Internet cabling. Now, though, Google's parent company, Alphabet, is scaling back its ambitions. It has disbanded the team that had been developing drone-based Internet service, according to the company. Dozens of employees in the group, known as Titan, have been reassigned to work on other projects.

This drone swarm was a product of the Strategic Capabilities Office, and outgoing Secretary of Defense Ash Carter praised the work, saying "This is the kind of cutting-edge innovation that will keep us a step ahead of our adversaries. This demonstration will advance our development of autonomous systems." Autonomy and swarming are centerpieces in many predictions about the next century of war. The Predator, Reaper, and Global Hawk drones that have so far most embodied how the United States fights wars are big, expensive, and vulnerable machines, with human pilots and sensor operators controlling them remotely. These drones also operate in skies relatively free of threats, without fear that a hostile jet will shoot them down.

Britain's top law enforcement official says it is legal to kill militants overseas if they pose an immediate or otherwise unstoppable threat. Attorney General Jeremy Wright is using a speech Wednesday to lay out the legal basis for the use of lethal force. Excerpts were released in advance. A Royal Air Force drone strike in Syria killed three Islamic State group fighters in 2015, including two Britons. It was the first such strike acknowledged by the British government.

The US military is no stranger to drone development. Over the past few years we've seen everything from unhackable robot helicopters to harbor-defending pontoon platoons -- including the the means to combat them -- come out of DoD research efforts. On Tuesday, the DoD showed off its latest advancement in drone technology when it released video of the first successful aerial deployment of the Perdix swarm drone. The test itself occurred last October in the skies over China Lake, California when a trio of F/A-18 Super Hornets released 103 individual Perdix drones. First designed in 2013 at the MIT AeroAstro Department, these drones measure less than a foot tip-to-tip and weigh just over a half pound.

A stunning video released by the Department of Defense shows a swarm of micro-drones being released by fighter jets. The demonstration of the Perdix micro-UAV swarm was held at China Lake, Calif. on Oct. 26, 2016. Three F/A-18's were deployed to launch the swarm of tiny drones, according to the Department of Defense. The drones, which have a wingspan of 12 inches, can operate autonomously and share a distributed brain, the BBC reports, and could be used for surveillance. In the Department of Defense video, the drones can also be seen flying through the air like a swarm of high-tech bees.

We're two days out from the tech-filled extravaganza that is the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show, an epic display of wealth, gadgetry and bling to an audience of 150,000 people. Drones have their own wing of the event now, and a number of companies were displaying drones aimed directly at consumers. Leaving aside the growing business market for these models, I've taken a look at some of the most interesting options in the consumer space. Some can be classified as toys, some as aerial selfie sticks, but if this market gets traction, it will greatly increase the public support for business usages, so it's a carrot-stick-carrot approach. Drones are big business, predicted to be worth billions in the next decade. Getting into this nascent industry is a smart idea, and the best way to make them accessible is to let flyers understand how they work.

The micro-drones use collective decision-making to execute missions. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. The micro-drones use collective decision-making to execute missions.