AUTOWAR25 No. 15P · Afternoon Edition
The FCC voted 3–0 to open 50 MHz of the 800 MHz cellular band to drones, ending a 35-year-old ban on airborne use. A Russian jet-powered drone hit a crowded platform at Dnipro's main railway station, killing at least 14, and the Kremlin said the war "must continue" after Ukraine sent 613 drones toward Moscow. Ukraine's defense-tech adviser says Russia's Geran-5 jet drones have hit 1,000 km/h, and DARPA says its RACER robots ran the first space-to-tactical autonomous ground experiment.
1. The FCC votes 3–0 to open 50 MHz of the 800 MHz cellular band to drones, ending a 35-year-old airborne ban
At its Oct. 29 open meeting the Federal Communications Commission adopted "FCC Opens More Cellular Spectrum for Drones," Report and Order FCC 26-72, letting drones use the band for command, control, communications and payload links.
- "Today, we give drone operators a new source of spectrum and open up new business models for aerial connectivity," Chairman Brendan Carr says.
- Carr and Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty approved it; the ban on passengers using phones in flight stays.
- The same meeting adopted FCC 26-73, limiting recognized equipment test labs to the U.S. and reciprocal countries, which reaches every new drone model sold in the U.S., Drone Authority reports.
- Routine beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight still waits on the FAA's Part 108 rule, due by Dec. 7, DroneXL reports.
2. A Russian jet-powered drone hits a crowded platform at Dnipro's main railway station, killing at least 14
Ukraine's state railway Ukrzaliznytsia says a jet-powered drone struck the platform where train No. 866 to Zaporizhzhia was waiting around 11 a.m. Thursday; regional head Oleksandr Hanzha puts the toll at 14 killed and 14 injured, Ukrainska Pravda and the BBC report.
- Ukraine's Air Force says four jet-powered drones attacked the region; three were shot down and the fourth hit the station.
- An elevated threat warning had been issued, but "there was a significant number of people on the platform," Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi says.
- Six people are in serious condition, including an 11-year-old boy, Hanzha says.
- Russia's military has not commented, the BBC reports.
3. The Kremlin says the war "must continue" after Ukraine sent 613 drones toward Moscow during the Russia-Africa summit
"Our air defense systems are working effectively. But this shows once again that the situation continues, and the (war) must continue so that we are protected from threats," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Oct. 29, the Kyiv Independent reports.
- Peskov called it "strange" that Kyiv mounted such a massive attack while delegations from 48 African countries met in the Kremlin.
- Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin says 231 of the 613 drones were destroyed on approach to the capital; Russian authorities report no casualties or damage.
- RIA Novosti says it was one of the largest attempts on Moscow in October, after 630 drones on Oct. 21–22.
- Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. are preparing another round of talks, with no date confirmed.
4. Ukraine's defense-tech adviser says Russia's jet-powered Geran-5 drones have hit 1,000 km/h while maneuvering
Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, the president's adviser on defense technologies, said Oct. 29 that Ukraine recorded cases of the Geran-5 accelerating to 1,000 km/h while maneuvering, UNN reports.
- "They are constantly trying to make their move, and we are looking for ways to respond," he says, calling it "like a game of chess."
- Russia is involving tens of thousands of engineers in drone development, he says.
- Ukraine must not only build its own technology but outpace Russia's rate of improvement, he says.
- Separately, Ukraine's military intelligence displayed wreckage of downed Geran-5, Dan-T and Filin weapons Oct. 29.
5. DIU-backed Auto-Router, a route-planning app that began as a Carnegie Mellon student project, is tested by Army soldiers in Germany
DIU highlighted its Innovation with Academia program on Oct. 29, pointing to Groundpath's Auto-Router, an ATAK plugin now being tested by U.S. Army soldiers, as Stars and Stripes reports.
- The app weighs terrain, enemy positions and lines of sight to generate several route options in seconds, with compass bearings and pace counts if a device fails.
- The 2nd Cavalry Regiment's Innovation Cell partnered with Carnegie Mellon through Hacking for Defense; DIU picked the beta for continued support.
- Opposition-force soldiers used it at Hohenfels during Combined Resolve to stalk 1st Armored Division troops.
- It rolls out to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the 173rd Airborne next month, Stars and Stripes reports.
Sources: @DIU_x post · Stars and Stripes6. DARPA says its RACER program ran the first space-to-tactical autonomous ground experiment, detecting, tracking and engaging simulated threats with humans in control
In "Autonomous vehicles deliver command-controlled robotic lethality," DARPA details the Oct. 15 Fort Knox demonstration of four autonomous ground vehicles and posted on X Oct. 29 about the space-to-tactical experiment.
- Anduril one-way attack platforms were integrated onto Overland AI autonomous ground vehicles and engaged simulated targets after the mission commander's approval, DARPA says.
- "We can drop a 10-digit grid on a traversable mobility corridor" and the vehicles drive it "comparable to a human," says DARPA technical advisor Jason Gregory.
- The vehicles carry sensing, kinetic and non-kinetic payloads, supervised by a single operator.
- RACER wraps up about five years of off-road autonomy software development, Gregory says.
Sources: darpa.mil · @DARPA post7. The Marine Corps fields its L-MADIS mobile counter-drone system to the 1st Low Altitude Air Defense Battalion in Hawaii
Program Manager Ground Based Air Defense completed new equipment training and fielding of the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in September, a Marine Corps release published by Seapower on Oct. 29 says.
- L-MADIS detects, tracks, identifies and defeats small drones, fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft on the move using radio-frequency defeat.
- Developed starting in 2019, it is now a program of record, the release says.
- "The presence of Unmanned Aircraft Systems is no longer a future concern – it's a persistent threat," it says.
- Training ran from August into September, ending with delivery of the systems.
Sources: Seapower (Marine Corps release)8. President Trump finds that imported robotics and industrial machinery threaten U.S. national security, citing defense systems, but holds off on tariffs for now
In "Adjusting Imports of Robotics, Industrial Machinery, and Their Parts and Components into the United States" (Oct. 28), a Section 232 proclamation, the President concurs with a Commerce Department finding that the imports "threaten to impair the national security."
- The proclamation says nearly all modern defense systems depend on robotics or industrial machinery, and that foreign-sourced equipment can pose significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
- Commerce found the domestic industry doesn't produce enough robotics, machinery and components to meet national security needs.
- Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative must negotiate agreements with trading partners and report within 180 days.
- No immediate tariffs are imposed, but duties remain possible if talks fall short, Reuters reports.
9. Russia launches 112 drones at Ukraine overnight, 40 of them jet-powered Shaheds; air defenses down or jam 97
Ukraine's Air Force says Russia attacked from 6 p.m. Oct. 28 with Shahed, Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones launched from the Orel, Millerovo and occupied Donetsk directions, Interfax-Ukraine and Ukrainska Pravda report.
- As of 8 a.m., 97 drones were shot down or suppressed, including 30 of the 40 jet-powered Shaheds.
- Hits were recorded at seven locations and debris fell at five; about seven drones were still in the air.
- An overnight Russian attack in the Rivne region killed one man, Ukrainian authorities say, Reuters reports.
- A drone strike in Kharkiv set fire to an educational facility, Mayor Ihor Terekhov says.
10. Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim they shot down a U.S. MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz and hijacked an MQM-170 target drone with electronic warfare
The IRGC said Thursday it downed an "advanced" MQ-1 over the eastern Strait of Hormuz near Sirik, calling it the 14th it has shot down, Iran International reports.
- The IRGC Navy separately claims its electronic warfare unit took over an MQM-170 Outlaw's guidance and landed it intact in the western strait, PressTV reports.
- It says the drone was mapping Iran's coastal air defenses and took off from a southern Gulf state.
- The U.S. has not confirmed any loss; these are IRGC claims.
Sources: Iran International · PressTV (IRGC claim)11. The container ship Contship Jet sinks overnight after the three-drone attack off Bulgaria, and the navy chief says no Bulgarian forces were close enough to intercept
Bulgarian Navy commander Rear Adm. Kiril Mihaylov says the ship, hit by three maritime drones around noon Wednesday, sank during the night, Radio Bulgaria and AP report.
- "We had no forces or assets in the immediate area that could reach them quickly enough to intercept and destroy them," Mihaylov says; he does not know where the drones were launched from.
- Twenty of its 421 containers fell overboard; the manifest lists lithium-ion batteries, acids, flammable liquids and other hazardous cargo.
- Maritime Administration inspectors expect no significant environmental impact so far; water sampling runs at five coastal sites.
- Separately, Russia's defense ministry says it struck a dry-cargo ship in the Black Sea used to supply the Ukrainian military, Russian news agencies report.
12. The Pentagon's inspector general declines a bipartisan Senate request to investigate October's Starlink and Starshield slowdowns in Ukraine
The War Department Office of Inspector General turned down senators' request to find which U.S. officials were responsible for the slowdowns, the Washington Examiner and CNN report.
- Inspector General Platte Moring said the issues were contractual matters better handled by the Air Force and Space Force, which oversee the SpaceX contract, reports say.
- Senators had asked about two weeks ago whether U.S. officials authorized or knew of the restrictions and whether they endangered U.S. personnel.
- Ukrainian officials say the slowdowns hurt drone operations, including grounding Bars interceptor drones.
13. U.S. soldiers and airmen in Germany train on RD-SUADS, a self-powered palletized counter-drone system
The Defence Blog reports, with U.S. Army Europe and Africa photos, that troops trained on Trust Automation's Rapidly Deployable Small-Unmanned Air Defense System, which fits on a pallet.
- Trust Automation says SUADS completed a U.S. Army operational assessment at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin.
- There it detected and engaged drones at roughly 2 to 6 km, with coverage up to about 7 km in favorable conditions.
- That configuration combined radar and electro-optical/infrared sensors with NINJA and DroneBuster electronic attack systems.
Sources: Defence Blog14. The Navy has stopped buying Aevex's GARC drone speedboats after spending $136.8 million on 325 of them, Bloomberg reports; Aevex disputes the framing
Bloomberg's Katrina Manson reports the Navy halted further purchases of the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft built by BlackSea, now owned by Aevex, citing hardware limits and cheaper alternatives after an independent assessment; the decision was made earlier this fall.
- A Navy spokesperson says the service has spent $136.8 million on 24 prototypes and 301 production boats.
- A defense official cites hardware, software and sensor issues, including a 2025 test in which a boat switched to autonomous mode and threw its tow-boat captain into the sea.
- In an Oct. 21 statement, Aevex says no orders were halted: it delivered all 325 contracted boats in 2025, no more hulls were planned, and its roughly $350 million upgrade contract runs through June 2027.
- Aevex says the boats have logged more than 25,000 hours on the water and are now flying mine-countermeasure missions in the Strait of Hormuz.
15. Lockheed Martin wins a $57.3 million Army contract to build a counter-drone interceptor, joining L3Harris and Northrop in the next round of XRC
Lockheed's three-year award covers developing and building an interceptor against drones and other short-range air-defense threats under round two of the Army's Xtended Range Counter-small UAS program, Defense Daily reports.
- "We are building on our Next-Generation Short-Range Interceptor work to support development for XRC," a Lockheed spokeswoman says.
- L3Harris reported its own round-two award last week, Defense Daily notes.
Sources: Defense Daily16. Russian satellites have repeatedly positioned over Saudi oil and military sites before and after Houthi attacks, AP and ISW report
AP reports, citing satellite-tracking data and officials, that Russian satellites routinely positioned above Saudi energy and military sites in the days before and after Houthi strikes since July, and ISW says Russia is supporting Houthi efforts to disrupt energy markets.
- A geospatial intelligence firm logged 40 instances of Russian satellite positioning over Saudi sites between July 1 and Oct. 19, including the Sept. 10 drone strike on the East-West Pipeline.
- A Saudi official and a senior Houthi official separately told AP that Russia passes targeting intelligence through Iranian military advisers in Yemen.
- Pre- and post-strike imagery very likely supports battle-damage assessment, ISW says.
- The Houthis struck Aden International Airport on Oct. 28, ISW says.
17. Reuters maps how Iran used a military-financial complex of 5,000 agencies to import drone and missile parts, even during the war
In an investigation posted Oct. 29, Reuters says Iran harnessed some 5,000 agencies to bring in components, explosives and heavy-duty trucks critical to its drone and missile programs.
- Deliveries reached Iran by land, sea and air even during the war, Reuters reports.
Sources: @Reuters post18. Singapore's army tests a vehicle-mounted counter-drone system and an untethered airborne 5G node at Exercise Wallaby in Australia
Janes and The Straits Times report the Singapore Armed Forces are trialing the systems in Queensland during Exercise Wallaby 2026, its largest overseas drill.
- The counter-drone kit mounts sensors on pickup trucks to detect hostile drones and jam their control links on the move.
- The airborne 5G communications node gives forward troops high-bandwidth, low-latency links.
- Singapore's defense ministry outlined the exercise in an Oct. 23 fact sheet.
19. Echodyne and Allen Control Systems pair EchoShield radar with the Bullfrog robotic gun turret for counter-drone use on land and at sea
Under a strategic collaboration agreement, EchoShield feeds radar position and velocity data to ACS's Bullfrog, which uses computer vision and autonomous control to aim existing weapons, Military Aerospace reports.
- The radar data helps Bullfrog orient its sensors, hold tracks on maneuvering drones and build firing solutions.
- Tests and demos are planned for fixed-site, mobile, expeditionary and maritime use, including on uncrewed vessels.
- The companies say guns and existing ammunition could reduce reliance on missile interceptors, but disclosed no cost or performance data.
- Both firms hold separate JIATF-401 awards; the combined system has not been procured.
Sources: Military Aerospace20. Germany's ARX Robotics and Ukraine's Roboneers arm the GEREON ground robot with the Shablya combat module, carrying an M2 or Mk.19
ARX Robotics and ROBONEERS have made Ukraine's Shablya remote weapon module compatible with the GEREON UGV, Roboneers told Militarnyi on Oct. 29.
- Full integration in the M2 Browning and Mk.19 grenade launcher configurations is due by the end of the year.
- First deliveries will follow operational requirements, the companies say.
- It is company-supplied information; no customer or order was named.
Sources: Militarnyi21. Researchers fly a fixed-wing interceptor drone steered by a reinforcement-learning policy that catches maneuvering drone targets in real flight
In "Autonomous fixed-wing interception using reinforcement learning" (arXiv), Daan van Hamersveld, Ewoud Smeur and Iurii Kriachko pitch cheap fixed-wing interceptors as a counter to Shahed-type drones, which quadcopter interceptors can't reach at range.
- A single neural network maps monocular-camera detections straight to control-surface and throttle commands, bypassing the autopilot.
- In simulation it beat proportional-navigation and pure-pursuit guidance under most conditions.
- In flight tests at Valkenburg air base in the Netherlands, it intercepted a maneuvering fixed-wing target in three of six engagements, with pilots taking over to avoid a collision.
- The airframe is built from off-the-shelf parts, with a Raspberry Pi 5 running detection.
Sources: arXiv22. HII lays the hull plaque on its first ROMULUS 151 drone ship, one of 10 the Navy ordered for its medium unmanned surface vessel program
HII held the ceremony in New Iberia, La., on Oct. 27 with Vice Adm. Michael Wosje, the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements, the company says.
- Wosje calls the MUSV "an essential tailored offset within the CNO's Hedge Strategy" and says the Navy will field it fast.
- ROMULUS runs HII's Odyssey autonomy software; in Navy-monitored evaluation it completed a 420-nautical-mile, 28-hour mission.
- Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Breaux Brothers Enterprises, a regional shipbuilding partner, joined the ceremony.
- It is a company release; Defense War Room also covered it.
Sources: HII · Defense War Room23. NATO's support agency picks Sky-Watch's RQ-35 Heidrun, letting allies buy the small recon drone without their own tenders
The Danish drone maker was selected under a NATO Support and Procurement Agency framework for the UAS Partnership, covering procurement and in-service support for fixed-wing mini drones, dronenr reports.
- The hand-launched RQ-35 flies up to 2.5 hours with a 50 km link and is built to work under electronic warfare and GNSS jamming.
- Sky-Watch says it has been used in conflict zones including Ukraine.
- No value, duration or orders were disclosed; parent AIRO Group trades on Nasdaq.
Sources: dronenr24. ParaZero launches TillOnAIR, an autonomous net-firing interceptor drone guided entirely from the ground to beat jamming and fiber-optic drones
The Israeli company says a ground mission-control unit detects, tracks and steers its quadcopter interceptors, which carry no GPS, seeker or camera, Unmanned Systems Technology reports from its release.
- The interceptor nets a hostile drone from above and returns for a new net pod, avoiding explosive debris.
- One ground unit can run several interceptors against swarms without a pilot, the company says.
- The 15 kg system sets up in about 20 minutes and protects a 50–100 m bubble; demos are planned in November.
- It is a company release with no customer named.
Sources: Unmanned Systems Technology25. India's IG Defence and Oman's MSA Global sign an MoU to explore making the KAL long-range one-way attack drone and counter-drone systems in Oman
The exploratory agreement covers co-development and local manufacturing for Oman and the Gulf states, Business Standard and the Times of India report.
- KAL is described as a one-way attack drone with a stated range of up to 1,000 km.
- The MoU also covers the BAJ drone interceptor and the JWALA counter-drone micro-missile.
- No order, factory or deployment has been announced.
Sources: Business Standard · Times of India
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How AUTOWAR25 ranks
Every edition, we scan official channels, news, industry, research, and social posts for the 25 most important developments in autonomous warfare: drones, counter-drone systems, uncrewed vessels and vehicles, and military AI.
Stories rank by source first:
- Official means governments, militaries, and their leaders speaking on the record.
- Premium/Press means established news outlets.
- Industry/Research means companies, think tanks, and published research.
- Social means notable posts from analysts, reporters, and practitioners.
Within each group, newer stories rank higher and engagement breaks ties. A company press release stays out of the top 10 until someone else reports on it. Ongoing marks a developing story, and Carryover marks one from a previous edition that's still moving. Claims from warring parties are labeled as claims, and anything we couldn't independently confirm is marked unverified.
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