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