Matt Sloane has spent 13 years building drone programs for over 1,000 public safety agencies. As Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of SkyfireAI, he’s at the center of three converging forces reshaping how drones are used in the United States: the rapid expansion of drone first response (DFR) programs, the federal government’s nearly billion-dollar investment in counter-UAS ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the FCC’s sweeping ban on new foreign-made drones.
In this episode, Matt explains how drones in public safety went from “that’s a toy” to “negligent without one,” walks through how counter-UAS mitigation actually works (including some memorable stories from the Super Bowl), discusses the shift from FAA Part 107 to the autonomy-first Part 108 framework, and shares what he told the White House about the Chinese drone ban and its impact on American public safety.
Matt Sloane is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of SkyfireAI. He previously founded Skyfire Consulting in 2014 and has worked with agencies ranging from local police departments to three-letter federal agencies.
What We Cover
- How drone first response (DFR) programs are transforming 911 operations
- The FAA’s Part 108 framework and the shift to autonomy-first drone operations
- From “that’s a toy” to essential equipment: 13 years of public safety adoption
- Multi-ship formations and the “S-word” (swarm)
- What was really flying over New Jersey in 2024
- Remote ID and 57 drone incursions during Super Bowl LVIII
- How counter-UAS authority is shifting from the FBI to state and local agencies
- The Gatorade bottle, the sniper, and the bus full of nuns
- Why shooting down a drone is legally the same as shooting down a 747
- Indoor tactical drones for building clearing operations
- Next-gen sensors: optical gas imaging, ground penetrating radar, RF detection
- FPV drones and what Ukraine has taught every military on the planet
- The Pennsylvania substation drone attack as terrorism
- The Chinese drone ban: what Matt told the White House
- Supply chain risk: could China remotely disable 90% of American public safety drones?