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Drones: Industry & Defence
25JUN

Minneapolis kills a free Skydio trial

1 min read
14:23UTC

Minneapolis City Council deadlocked 6-6 on 16 July, killing a free Skydio drone trial after the vice president cited the maker's ICE and Israeli-military sales.

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TechnologyDeveloping
Key takeaway

A free police-drone trial died 6-6 over who else Skydio sells to, not over the drones' cost or performance.

Minneapolis City Council deadlocked 6-6 on Thursday 16 July, killing a free 75-day trial of a Skydio Drone as First Responder (DFR) programme, in which a drone is dispatched to an emergency call ahead of officers. Council Vice President Jamal Osman, who had co-sponsored the measure, cast the deciding no vote. He cited Skydio's sales to the Israeli military and a reported $25,000 artificial-intelligence drone sale to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).⁠1

Supporters presented figures showing the drones could reach 4,643 of the area's highest-priority calls within two minutes, against a police response average of nearly eight minutes. Cost, privacy and performance did not decide the tied vote.

Skydio holds a $52 million US Army order for 2,500 X10D drones, one of the largest single-vendor small-drone contracts on this beat. That federal standing did not insulate it locally: its customer list, ICE and a foreign military, became the deciding factor in a municipal procurement vote. Councils elsewhere weighing DFR schemes now have a template for scrutinising a vendor's other buyers, regardless of the hardware on offer.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Minneapolis had been testing Skydio's drones for free, letting police send a drone instead of, or ahead of, a patrol car to some emergency calls, a system called drone-as-first-responder. The trial let police reach 4,643 high-priority calls within two minutes. The city council was split 6-6 on whether to continue it, so the trial ended. Council Vice President Jamal Osman cast one of the no votes, pointing to Skydio's sales of drones to ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and to the Israeli military as his reason, even though those sales have nothing to do with the Minneapolis programme itself.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The 6-6 deadlock follows a national pattern in which municipal drone-first-responder programmes, unlike federal defence contracts, face public council votes where a single member's objection can block adoption even when the underlying technology is offered free. Skydio's federal customer base, including a reported $25,000 sale to ICE and broader Israeli military sales, gave opponents a specific, named grievance to attach to an otherwise routine pilot-programme renewal.

The trial's free 75-day structure meant the council was voting on a no-cost extension rather than a budgeted purchase, which removed the usual fiscal argument from the debate and left the vote to turn entirely on Skydio's other customers.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Skydio loses a free reference-customer trial over its unrelated ICE and Israeli sales, a precedent other city councils weighing similar programmes may now cite.

  • Risk

    If other municipalities apply the same standard, Skydio's federal and export customer list could become a recurring obstacle to local drone-first-responder contracts regardless of programme performance.

Sources:DroneXL
Mentions:Minneapolis →Skydio →US Army →X10D →
First Reported In

Update #16 · BAE unveils Britain's first combat drone

DroneXL· 24 Jul 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
This Event
Minneapolis kills a free Skydio trial
It shows a US drone maker's federal and foreign customers becoming a procurement liability at city-council level, a filter other councils may copy.
Led to
Skydio sells the Army drones at $20,800
The Minneapolis trial collapse follows Skydio's $52m US Army X10D order, showing federal wins do not insulate local procurement.
Occurred 17 Jun 2026
Read story →
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.