Iranian forces deploy explosive drone boats disguised as fishing vessels in Strait of Hormuz, defense expert Cameron Chell warns, marking new phase of hybrid warfare.

Vladimir Putin drone attack claims dismissed by military expert Cameron Chell, who calls the alleged Ukrainian strike on the Russian president's residence 'hard to fathom.'

Since Russia's invasion began, Ukraine's allies have been sending UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) assistance. A crucial component of the war, the usage of drones is complex in legal and technical terms. But as UAVs have continued to change modern warfare, humanitarian drones carry out vital missions in Ukraine to save lives. When the war started on February 24, the non-profit Revived Soldiers Ukraine (RSU) contacted DraganFly, a North American-based drone company, to supply its cutting-edge technology. The base rate for a Draganfly drone is $35,000, but add-ons such as thermal cameras can push costs upward of $80,000.

This article is part of Privacy in the Pandemic, a Future Tense series. Since the pandemic began, authorities in New Delhi, Italy, Oman, Connecticut, and China have begun to experiment with fever-finding drones as a means of mass COVID-19 screening. They're claiming the aircraft can be used to better understand the health of the population at large and even to identify potentially sick individuals, who can then be pulled aside for further diagnostic testing. In Italy, police forces are reportedly using drones to read the temperatures of people who are out and about during quarantine, while officials in India are hoping to use thermal-scanner-equipped drones to search for "temperature anomalies" in people on the ground. A Lithuanian drone pilot even used a thermal-scanning drone to read the temperature of a sick friend who didn't own a thermometer. Unfortunately, there's almost no evidence that these fever-detecting drones actually work.

If anyone knows the name "Draganfly," it may be from an unfortunate news story from last week. The Canadian company's plan to test a coronavirus-monitoring "pandemic drone" in Westport, Connecticut, came to a halt when anxious citizens and civil rights advocates got wind of it. But that was just one town. The company says it has many other takers, and that the pandemic drone is far from dead. News site VentureBeat has a great in-depth look at the drone company's COVID-19 work that is well worth a thorough read.