Drone News: New Helius Drone, Blue UAS Changes, Skydio Sends Tracker to Police, & SkyeBrowse Update

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update we have 4 stories for you;
Ascent AeroSystems releases the Helius, Blue UAS and Framework
Changes, a Big SkyeBrowse Update, and Skydio sends Tracking
Mailers to Police Department.





First up, Ascent Aerosystems has released the HELIUS!This is a
249, coaxial system that mimics the design of the much larger
Spirit. According to Ascent’s website, this is an all weather,
NDAA Compliant, aircraft with features like 4G LTE connectivity,
4K gimbaled camera, 45 MPH top speed, and 30+ minute endurance!
The HELIUS is available for preorder and is priced at
$4,499.Preorder can be placed through either Ascent AeroSystems
OR Robinson Helicopter Company dealers, with deliveries occurring
in Q4 of this year.The Blue List has had some significant
changes! Several drones and manufacturers have been removed and a
few have been added. Removed drones include: The AgEagle Ebee,
Ascent Aerosystems Spirit, Blue Halo IE-V2, HoveryTech Spectre,
Inspired Flight IF1200A and IF800, Parrot Anafi UAS GOV and MIL,
Vantage Viper, and the Wingtra One Gen II. These aircraft are no
longer on the Blue UAS List, which is a bit concerning.It’s
unclear WHY these aircraft were removed, but raises some serious
questions, such as: Do these aircraft have data security issues?
What happens to all the departments who have been forced to
purchase aircraft that are Blue UAS and have now been removed?
We’re not sure. On the other side, a few drones were added, the
FlightWave Edge130, HoverFly Technologies Spectre (Possibly a
rebrand of the Hovery Tech), and the Zone5 Paladin. Along with
these, Pierce Aerospace B1 also was added to the Blue List,
though the parts side rather than the aircraft side of the
list.We’ll keep you up to date if we see more! Next up, Skydio
appears to have sent marketing materials with tracking ability to
Police Departments. As reported by DroneXL, a Sergeant from a
large California police department revealed that promotional
materials from Skydio appeared to have embedded tracking and a
4/5G SIM card.This was found after the device was disassembled by
the department’s forensic analysis lab.The marketing material in
question comes from a company called “MARC Media”, who confirmed
that each device integrates a screen, pause and play buttons,
navigation, and a “Call to action button”. The device has a 9
month battery life and tracks things like interactions, use of
the call to action button, and even the location of the
device.Skydio came under fire for this due to their stance as
being the “secure alternative” and citing risks of “data
collection” by other manufacturers. The Sergeant stated “In
addition to [privacy and security] concerns I found it ethically
concerning because Skydio has been a strong proponent of data
security and data safety but then did the thing they accused
other UAS manufacturers of doing,”Not a great look for Skydio.
Last up, Skyebrowse has another big update! There are several
things to talk about here, starting with Pocket AI.This is a
function that turns an image into a 3D model using AI. It’s free
for everyone, so give it a try and potentially win a year of
Skyebrowse Lite! Skyebrowse also released model merging and
Workspace images. Model merging allows you to link other models
to connect multiple scenes within a workspace, again, available
for everyone! Workspace images function similarly, and allow
public safety to attach photos to the 3D model so that anyone who
sees the images can also see the photos.
https://dronexl.co/2025/03/10/skydio-tracking-mailers-security-concerns/https://www.diu.mil/blue-uas/frameworkhttps://dronexl.co/2025/03/06/major-shakeup-blue-suas-list/#google_vignettehttps://ascentaerosystems.com/introducing-helius/