The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is often described as the world's first drone war. It has led to a continuing huge growth in the production of military drones, both within and outside Ukraine. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine Kseniia Kalmus was a floral artist. Now, she makes drones for use against the Russians. It was just an obvious decision for me, she tells the BBC from the Ukrainian capital.

A House Democrat is moving to block the Trump administration from being able to use military-grade drones to surveil protests in the U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., introduced the bill in response to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly using MQ-9 Reaper drones to monitor the protests in Los Angeles earlier this year. "The U.S. government should never use military drones to spy on its own people. Not under anyone," Gomez told Fox News Digital in a statement. "This bill would stop Trump's abuse of power and get these combat drones out of our neighborhoods." An MQ-9 Reaper flies by on a training mission at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada.

A company that has worked closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS and education is also developing AI for military drones. The consultancy Faculty AI has "experience developing and deploying AI models on to UAVs", or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a defence industry partner company. Faculty has emerged as one of the most active companies selling AI services in the UK. Unlike the likes of OpenAI, Deepmind or Anthropic, it does not develop models itself, instead focusing on reselling models, notably from OpenAI, and consulting on their use in government and industry. Faculty gained particular prominence in the UK after working on data analysis for the Vote Leave campaign before the Brexit vote.

The US Air Force can now equip autonomous drones with face recognition technology, raising fears that they could be used to find and kill specified people. The drones will be employed by special operations forces for intelligence gathering and for missions in foreign countries, according to a contract between the Department of Defense (DoD) and Seattle-based firm RealNetworks. The company's software, based on machine learning, is designed to work on a drone that is piloting itself, with limited or …

In the snowy streets of the north Ukrainian town of Trostyanets, the Russian missile system fires rockets every second. Tanks and military vehicles are parked on either side of the blasting artillery system, positioned among houses and near the town's railway system. The weapon is not working alone, though. Hovering tens of meters above it and recording the assault is a Ukrainian drone. The drone isn't a sophisticated military system, but a small, commercial machine that anyone can buy.

WASHINGTON – About a month ago, Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense posted photographs on social media of seven brand-new helicopters arriving in Kabul, delivered by the United States. "They'll continue to see a steady drumbeat of that kind of support going forward," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters a few days later at the Pentagon. In a matter of weeks, however, the Taliban had seized most of the country, as well as any weapons and equipment left behind by fleeing Afghan forces. Video showed the advancing insurgents inspecting long lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones. "Everything that hasn't been destroyed is the Taliban's now," said one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A military drone may have autonomously attacked humans for the first time without being instructed to do so, according to a recent report by the UN Security Council. The report, published in March, claimed that the AI drone – Kargu-2 quadcopter – produced by Turkish military tech company STM, attacked retreating soldiers loyal to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar. The 548-page report by the UN Security Council's Panel of Experts on Libya has not delved into details on if there were any deaths due to the incident, but it raises questions on whether global efforts to ban killer autonomous robots before they are built may be futile. Over the course of the year, the UN-recognized Government of National Accord pushed the Haftar Affiliated Forces (HAF) back from the Libyan capital Tripoli, and the drone may have been operational since January 2020, the experts noted. "Logistics convoys and retreating HAF were subsequently hunted down and remotely engaged by the unmanned combat aerial vehicles or the lethal autonomous weapons systems such as the STM Kargu-2," the UN report noted.

Point Bridge Capital CEO Hal Lambert says Elon Musk is the Thomas Edison of our generation. SpaceX founder Elon Musk expects unmanned drones will outlive fighter jets in the U.S. Air Force. "It's not [that] I want the future to be this," the billionaire entrepreneur added during a fireside chat about the future of air defense with Gen. Jay Raymond, chief of space operations for the Space Force, at the 2020 Air Warfare Symposium on Friday. "The fighter jet era has passed." The founder of electric-car maker Tesla re-emphasized the point on Twitter when a platform user brought up his statement that the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should have a competitor.

A drone with a machine gun attached can hit targets with high precision, according to its makers. Turkey is set to become the first country to have the drone, when it gets a delivery this month. The 25-kilogram drone has eight rotating blades to get it in the air. Its machine gun carries 200 rounds of ammunition and can fire single shots or 15-round bursts. Many countries and groups already use small military drones that can drop grenades or fly into a target to detonate an explosive.

A study by researchers at Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone found that at least 95 countries currently own unmanned military drones. A report by researchers at Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone estimated that 95 countries currently own unmanned military drones--up from 60 in 2010--and the infrastructure to support their operation also is expanding. Bard's Dan Gettinger said drones "are featuring more prominently in world affairs, as we've seen most recently in the Saudi drone attacks." The report found the U.S. monopoly on long-distance military drones is eroding, with at least 10 nations, including Azerbaijan and Nigeria, using drones to launch strikes. Fifteen countries have training academies for drone operators, according to the report.