Whilst we have been featuring drones in airsoft as a matter of capturing the airsoft action for posterity rather than for tactical purpose, current events such as the Russo-Ukranian War, has led to a good number of airsoft players to thinking that having the skills to fly drones is a plus these days, airsoft or otherwise.

The ongoing war in Europe has both warring armies deploying drones of all shapes and sizes. Even DJI’s own drones which are for commercial and civilian use have been rigged for reconnaissance and attack purposes and citizens of both Russia and Ukraine have been fundraising to purchase these and send them to the front.

DJI’s latest drone, the DJI Avata is a cinewhoop drone which is a camera drone with the camera that can be angled up as compared to other camera drones as they capture the action from above. It is an FPV cinematic camera that is designed like a racing drone that can go through tight places and go around tight corners. With the goggles and control, the FPV experience of flying it is even better. It actually can go so low it can hug the ground at top speed.

The DJI Avata is equipped with a stabilized camera with a 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor that has 48 million effective pixels, 155° FOV ultra wide angle lens with an f/2.8 aperture. Depending on the FPV goggles, it can capture 4K video at 50/60fps to 1080p at 50/60/100/120fps with the DJI FPV Goggles V2. It has an internal memory of 20GB.

As for speed, it can fly 8 m/s in Normal Mode, 14 m/s in Sport Mode, 27 m/s Manual Mode. It can descend at 6 m/s in both Normal and Sport Mode. Maximum takeoff altitude is 5000 meters and flying distance is a 11.6km and maximum hover time is 18 minutes.

With its Downward Obstacle Sensing System, the DJI Avata can go fly indoors and perform low altitude flight. If it turns over on its back on the ground, its Turtle Mode can flip it back upright. With the remote’s emergency brake, the drone can abruptly halt and hover into place a good feature since the it is designed to fly in areas that there are obstacles.

As cinewhoop drone, the DJI Avata can take crazy footage that cannot be done with regular cameras and even by other camera drones. But in a tactical sense, the racing drone design and its low altitude flight capability can make it an incredible reconnaissance drone. It can go up close and low with its camera, capturing even more detail of enemy positions and just fly with the footage at fast speed that it’s too late for the enemy to react.

The DJI Avata is now available to order. Pricing is the drone costs USS$629/€579/£499 on its own and as a package with the DJI Goggles 2 and a DJI Motion Controller it will set you back US$1,388/€1,429/£1,229.