Police are turning to drones to help snare criminal gangs on motorbikes in London. In scenes plucked from a science fiction film, Brits could soon see police drones soaring across the capital. Scotland Yard has confirmed it is in talks over a fleet of police drones to chase thieves involved in drive-by snatches in the capital. Scotland Yard is in talks over a fleet of police drones to chase thieves involved in drive-by snatches in the capital. Sending UAVs to do a police officer's job could not only save lives, but police costs and time too.

Everyone loves a fireworks show, and when you see it live it doesn't matter where you are so long as you've got a decent angle of view. But fireworks aren't all that exciting to watch from some shaky cellphone video, or some stationary camera the local news put up downtown. Enter the drone: because if America is going to celebrate its birthday, it wants 4K aerial video of the whole damn thing. Yes it's July 5 (or later--I don't know when you're reading this) but fireworks deserve year-round viewing when someone's willing to take an expensive piece of tech hundreds of feet into the air and fire explosives at it. We love watching fireworks from the perspective of drones.

WASHINGTON – Coalition forces fighting the Islamic State group in northern Syria destroyed one of their own combat drones Tuesday after the unmanned aircraft crashed, the U.S. Air Force said. The MQ-9 Reaper -- a type of armed drone -- crashed while flying a combat mission after remote pilots lost "positive control" of the aircraft, the Air Force said in a statement. "The remotely piloted aircraft crash was not due to enemy fire. There are no reports of civilian injuries or damage to civilian property at the crash site," the statement reads. Coalition craft then destroyed what was left of the drone.

A U.S. military drone crashed in northern Syria while carrying out a combat mission against ISIS, the Air Force said Tuesday. According to a statement, the MQ-9 Reaper drone was not brought down by enemy fire and there were no reports of civilian injuries or damage in the crash. The statement added that aircraft of the U.S.-led coalition destroyed the crashed drone before it could fall into ISIS hands. An investigation will be conducted to determin the exact cause of the crash. The Obama administration has often used unmanned aircraft to target leaders of terror groups.

The GEO system will also automatically update with temporary restrictions around wildfires so that drone pilots aren't interfering with firefighting aircraft. DJI announced in January that pilots would be able to unlock restricted areas with a verified account. This ensures that things like inspections and model aircraft shows can still take place, even in a typical no-fly zone. However, locations that could cause national security issues, like Washington, DC, will not be able to be unlocked. The improved GEO system is now available inside the DJI GO app for iOS and Android for use on all Inspire models and the Phantom 4, Phantom 3 Professional and Phantom 3 Advanced drones.

Battlefields of the future could enable armies to respond quickly to threats by'growing' unmanned aircraft in the field. In a futuristic vision of warfare, British defence firm BAE Systems has described its plans for a radical new concept for developing new prototypes of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Called the Chemputer, its developers claim the concept could provide a significant advantage by slashing production times from years to just a matter of weeks. Grow your own drones: British defence firm BAE Systems has announced its plans to develop a'Chemputer' in which prototypes could be'grown' rapidly (concept illustrated). The'Chemputer' could provide a significant advantage by slashing production times from years to a matter of weeks.

Chilling aerial footage of Ramadi, a once bustling city in central Iraq, has captured the extent of destruction caused by war. In late December, Iraqi forces, backed by US air strikes, announced the recapturing of Ramadi, which had been lost to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in May 2015. The US-led coalition carried out more than 600 air strikes in the area from July to December last year. A new six-minute clip, released by the International Red Committee of The Red Cross (ICRC) shows homes in Ramadi turned to rubble, along with flattened school, destroyed hospitals and damaged ambulances. READ MORE: Dramatic video'shows destruction of huge ISIL convoy' "Rare aerial footage gathered by ICRC shows the once prosperous Ramadi in central Iraq now in tatters - a ghost town," the ICRC said on Monday.

Austin Haughwout, 19, of Clinton, and his father, Bret Haughwout, are refusing to comply with subpoenas issued by the U.S. attorney's office on behalf of the FAA, saying the subpoenas violate their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and questioning the agency's authority to regulate recreational drones. A hearing on whether the Haughwouts have to comply with the subpoenas is set for Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer in New Haven. The case potentially has national significance because it would set a precedent on how much authority the FAA has over recreational drone use, said the Haughwouts' lawyer, Mario Cerame. One video, viewed more than 3.7 million times, shows a flying drone equipped with a handgun firing rounds. Another video, viewed nearly 600,000 times, shows a flying drone with a flamethrower lighting up a spit-roasting Thanksgiving turkey.

The Evening Standard reports that police are struggling to come to terms with an increase in motorbike raids, specifically in Camden and Islington. In the past 12 months, more than 3,000 phone thefts were recorded, many of them linked to drive-by crooks on two wheels. The Met has launched a review of its pursuit tactics after an inquest found that 18-year-old Henry Hicks died in a crash during a high-speed chase. The teen, who wasn't suspected of a crime, was trying to evade two unmarked police cars and a helicopter in Islington in 2014. In order to reduce the chances of a similar incident happening again, Mackey said the force is now considering its options and available tactics, which may involve the use of drones.

In April, a group of Finnish farmers outfitted a spindly black drone with a remote-controlled chainsaw and filmed it decapitating snowmen. They called it "Killer Drone." More formally, it was a DJI S1000. This spring, marine biologists flew a drone over the Sea of Cortez to capture samples of the fluid sprayed from the blowholes of blue whales. It was a DJI Inspire 1.