Uncrewed Views

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins reviews the biggest drone industry stories of the month in a solo news roundup. He covers the US-Mexico border TFR, governors' requests for more counter-UAS training, FEMA's $250 million counter-UAS grant round, FAA research awards, the multi-state challenge to the FAA's drone delivery environmental review, and Amazon's Prime Air plans in Westborough, Massachusetts, along with drone delivery expansion in London and Bali.

Webinar Registration Link: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/webinars/the-commercial-drone-industry-in-numbers-state-of-the-industry-report-reactions

MDTG Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/titan-uav

SPH Engineering Story: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/sph-engineering-drone-camp-hungary-geophysical-demos-awards

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Andrew Ashur, founder and CEO at Lucid Bots. The two discuss the growth of drone-based cleaning, how Lucid Bots trains cleaning companies to adopt drones, and the gaps that remain in U.S. drone manufacturing.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Gabriel Guglielmi, Vice President of Product Management at Infinite Electronics. The two discuss how the FCC covered list changed customer conversations about components, the shift toward regional supply chains, and product trends such as anti-jamming GPS antennas and weight reduction.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins looks back on Commercial UAV Expo 2026 and breaks down the biggest regulatory news in the industry. He discusses the latest on Part 108 and TSA's new security roundtables, the tariffs that took effect this month, and where things stand with the FCC's proposed military-grade ban.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Mira Marquez, Senior Program Director at Skydio for All. The two discuss how drone education programs are evolving beyond Part 107 certification, the industry-specific skills employers in public safety and energy utilities are looking for, and how professionals and educators can partner to build a stronger workforce pipeline. See below for documents mentioned in the conversation:

Document for Evolving Programs

Document for Drone Applications

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins goes solo to preview Commercial UAV Expo 2026, taking place September 1-3 at Caesars Forum in Las Vegas. He walks through the conference program, including both keynotes, the workforce development and regulatory sessions, and the return of the roundtable discussions. He also covers what's happening on the exhibit hall floor, from Pitch the Press to the indoor airspace demonstrations, plus workshops and the new DRONERESPONDERS program management course.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Steffanie Rivers, Founder of TCB Drones and TCB Drones Academy. The two discuss workforce development in the commercial drone industry, the National HBCU Aviation and Drone Leadership Initiative Steffanie launched this summer, and how regulatory shifts like Part 108 and the FCC's covered list are shaping the path for new pilots entering the field.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Trevor Perrott, CEO and Co-Founder at Censys Technologies. The two discuss realistic timelines for Part 108 implementation, what operators should be doing now to prepare for BVLOS adoption, and the deeper economic forces behind domestic drone manufacturing and NDAA compliance.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Chris Tavani, Chief Growth Officer at Raad. The two discuss how the company vets and ranks drone pilots at scale, the software tools Raad uses for real-time quality control, and what smaller operators should look for when hiring pilots on their own.

In this week's episode of Uncrewed Views, Matt Collins speaks with Kraettli Epperson, CEO of Vigilant Aerospace Systems. The two discuss how detect-and-avoid technology works under the hood, what the Part 108 NPRM means for operators preparing for BVLOS operations, and what steps operators and manufacturers can take now to be ready when the final rule is published.

Link to Commercial UAV News' State of the Industry Survey, closing July 3: https://survey.divcom.com/s3/COMMERCIAL-DRONE-INDUSTRY-State-of-the-Industry-Survey-2026