Drone News: New Dock & Drone, Emergency Bill to Ban Drones, Comment on ANPRM, & LEDA Calls Out AUVSI

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update we have 4 stories for you;
DJI launches new dock and drone, Connecticut’s “emergency” bill
to ban Chinese drones, your last chance to comment on the
Department of Commerce ANPRM, and LEDA calls out AUVSI.





First up, DJI launched the new Dock 3 and Matrice 4D &
4TD!This is the first DJI dock designed for use on a vehicle,
allowing the drone to launch directly from a mobile platform.The
Dock 3 can operate and charge in extreme temperatures up to 122°F
and down to -22°F. It’s IP56-rated, and the Matrice 4D comes with
anti-icing propellers.Speaking of the Matrice 4D, it’s IP55 rated
and offers 54 minutes of flight time or 47 minutes of hover time.
Both the 4D and 4TD comes with a wide-angle camera, a 3X medium
tele camera, a 7X long tele camera, and a laser range finder.The
Thermal offers a near IR light and a 640X512 infrared thermal
camera in addition to the other cameras.In conjunction with the
release, AVSS, the Canadian parachute manufacturer, released a
parachute for the Matrice 4D. While it is not yet on the FAA
Declaration of Compliance list yet, the press release mentioned
it will be FAA approved for operations over people. The parachute
will be available in Q2 of this year.DJI just seems to be pumping
them out this year!Next up, Connecticut’s emergency bill on
banning Chinese Drones.This bill has currently passed both
chambers of the state’s legislature and prohibits state agencies
and municipalities from purchasing “Covered” drones starting in
October of 2026 and a ban on operating in 2028.The legislation
also restricts drone flights within 250 feet of critical electric
and other utility infrastructure.If you’re in Connecticut, please
reach out to your representatives ASAP!Last up, there are only a
few days left to make your voice heard!The Department of Commerce
ANPRM’s comment date ends on March 4th.Don’t let folks in suits
who have never flown drones write the narrative on what our UAS
actually do.Please watch this video and comment!Speaking of
getting your voices heard, the Law Enforcement Drone Association,
or LEDA for short, expressed their disheartening at an opinion
article written by AUVSI president Michael Robbins.Jon Beal, the
President and CEO of LEDA mentions the oped written on drone blog
DroneLife is "overt gaslighting regarding legislation related to
the use of Drones from China."Beal explains that LEDA is a
platform-agnostic organization whose stance "has always been to
let member agencies and pilots decide what platform works best
for them and their communities at large".He also explains that he
has watches, which his own eyes, AUVSI representatives testify in
support of banning Chinese drones for public safety agencies in
various states.Beal goes on to question Robbin's understanding of
how these bans affect agencies, forcing many of them to shut down
their programs completely. As a result, agencies no longer have
the ability to save lives and mitigate risk, including for the
public at large. Beal also cites Robbin's lack of evidence in his
statement that "security vulnerabilities are well-documented with
the national security community". In response, Beal welcomes the
stated clause in Section 1709 of the 2024 NDAA, which mandates a
study of DJI and Autel drones for data security.Beal concludes by
stating that "almost every one of our 3200 members is angered by
the legislation happening in their states and our country borne
from greed and in an attempt to limit their ability to save
lives".https://www.flyingmag.com/connecticut-emergency-bill-would-ban-chinese-russian-drones/https://dronexl.co/2025/02/25/dji-m4td-dock-3-imminent-release/https://youtu.be/AYOcLhKpGDQhttps://www.ledauas.org/_files/ugd/78f471_7a7178eabda94a49b7bbacbbaba19986.pdf