UK puts £20.5M behind 'numberplate for the skies' to keep tabs on drones

The UK will spend £20.5 million developing "a numberplate system for the skies" that will centrally record the identity and location of drones when in flight. From the start of this year, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has required some drones to fly with Direct Remote ID enabled, broadcasting identity and location to nearby devices, with more covered by the requirement from the start of 2028. The new system will use Hybrid Remote ID, in which drones also pass on this data via the internet f