Tag - drones

 
Menu
Search
 
July 04, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

DRONES

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2026
Apparent use of AI in Iran war raises daunting questions, expert says
An expert on artificial intelligence and robotics said it was likely the U.S. and Israel had used AI to identify targets in Iran, raising a host of moral and legal questions.
A drone is shown during Iran’s annual Army Day parade on April 18, 2025, in Tehran.
WORLD
Mar 3, 2026
Iran’s missile math: $20,000 drones take on $4 million Patriots
Both Tehran and Washington may run low on weapons in a matter of days or weeks. Whoever can last longer will gain a serious advantage.
Japan aims to become a wartime-resilient “unmanned systems hub” by expanding domestic military-drone production and integrating allied cooperation.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 2, 2026
Lessons for Japan from Russia’s war in Ukraine
Japan aims to become a wartime-resilient “unmanned systems hub” by expanding domestic military-drone production and integrating allied cooperation.
A Shahed drone on display during the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran on Feb. 11.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 2, 2026
Iran waves of cheap drones show sophistication or shortfalls
Because Iran had time to plan — and reason to believe the U.S. would try to eliminate leadership in an attack — Tehran may have moved to decentralize military operations.
Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command operating area in November.
WORLD
Mar 1, 2026
U.S. military uses ‘one-way attack drones’ in combat for first time in Iran strikes
The employment of the single-use LUCAS drones was likely being closely watched by both Japan and China.
Eams Robotics President Eiji Sotani speaks in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 1, 2026
Fukushima company working to realize drone logistics
Eams Robotics, based in the Fukushima city of Minamisoma, produces and sells industrial drones.
The Pentagon accidentally shot down a U.S. Customs and Border Protection drone on the Texas border with Mexico using a high-energy laser, according to people familiar with the matter.
WORLD
Feb 27, 2026
Pentagon shoots down government drone in Texas accident, congressional aides say
The incident prompted the FAA to bar flights on Thursday in an area around Fort Hancock, Texas.
A satellite image shows large drones at Qionghai Boao International Airport on Hainan Island, China, on Sep. 3, 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 26, 2026
How China is masking drone flights in potential Taiwan rehearsal
Military attaches and security analysts scrutinizing the operations say the flights represent a step-change in China’s gray-zone tactics in the contested South China Sea.
A Ukrainian serviceman looks at a Vampire, a heavy unmanned aerial vehicle, during its flight near a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on April 5, 2025.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 24, 2026
From AI to Starlink: How drone tech is reshaping war in Ukraine
Without drones, modern warfare is now “impossible.”
A replica of a CH-9 drone, developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2026
China’s drone exports to Russia use a new route through Thailand
Beijing says that it does not aid Moscow militarily, but Chinese-made technology is routinely found on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Fragments of a drone lie scattered on the ground in the Muksan-ri area, Kaepung District, Kaesong City, North Korea, after North Korea said on Saturday that South Korea sent another drone into North Korean airspace on Jan. 4, according to North Korean state media KCNA, in this picture released on Jan. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 18, 2026
South Korea says civilians sent drones to North Korea four times, harming ties
The ​trio flew the aircraft between September and January.
Members of the Ukrainian military battalion known as the Da Vinci Wolves prepare care packages to be delivered by drone to soldiers on the front line in the Dnipro region of Ukraine on Jan. 3.
WORLD
Feb 17, 2026
Bitter cold complicates Ukraine’s drone defense
Temperatures across the 1,200-kilometer front line have plunged to their lowest of the entire four-year Russia-Ukraine war, complicating the use of the weapons.
Dutch drone pilot Ralph Hogenbirk holds a FPV drone, used for capturing action in the sliding center, during an interview in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, on Friday.
OLYMPICS
Feb 15, 2026
‘No blinking’: Drones push Olympic broadcasting to new level
Before the Olympics began, drone pilots trained alongside the athletes, running the courses up to 60 times a day.
OpenAI has partnered with two defense technology companies that the Pentagon has selected to compete to develop voice-controlled, drone swarming software for the U.S. military, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 14, 2026
OpenAI tapped for voice control tech in U.S. drone swarm trial
The technology would only be used to translate voice commands from battlefield commanders to digital instructions for the drones, according to sources.
The Shield AI booth at the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Center in Singapore on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 5, 2026
U.S. drone-makers debut at Singapore Airshow eyeing Asia sales amid China threat
The companies believe their early battlefield experience and initial Pentagon backing prove they can deliver the systems needed ‌as China builds its presence in the region.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, is seen at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego last August.
WORLD
Feb 4, 2026
U.S. jet shoots down Iranian drone near carrier in Arabian Sea
The incident caps weeks of heightened tensions, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening airstrikes over Tehran’s violent crackdown on Iranian protesters.
A cloud-seeding generator outside the town of Fraser, Colorado, produces snow for the Winter Park ski resort, several miles downwind.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 2, 2026
U.S. ski resorts turn to drones to make it snow amid dire drought
Resorts are increasingly seeking solutions to freshen up the brown slopes spanning the American West this winter, even as the East Coast grapples with back-to-back storms.
The Moldova-Ukraine border crossing in the village of Palanca, Moldova
WORLD
Jan 28, 2026
Virtually defenseless: Moscow’s attacks in Ukraine put fear into neighboring Moldova
Concerns grow that the war in Ukraine could spill over into Moldova, as several Russian missiles and drones have crashed on its territory.
A South Korean military guard post near the Demilitarized Zone
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 21, 2026
South Korea raids suspects over drone flights into North
One man has claimed responsibility for the infiltration, saying he did so to detect radiation levels from the North’s Pyongsan uranium processing facility.
Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command operating area in November.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2026
U.S. and Japan turn to drones to help offset China’s military advantages
From the United States’ reverse-engineering of Iranian drones to Japan’s building of a drone “shield,” the tech is changing the nature of warfare.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI
Digital marketer Netyear zeros in on generative AI

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER