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DJI's dock range now runs to four generations, and the newest is not automatically the right one. This comparison covers the three currently worth considering for a new deployment: Dock 2, Dock 3 and Dock 4. The original Dock, which carries the Matrice 30 series, is out of production and left out for that reason. DJI still supports the aircraft, released new firmware for it in August 2026 and has not announced a replacement, so an existing Dock 1 programme is not stranded. The three carry different aircraft that do not interchange, they deploy differently, and the cheapest to install is still the best answer for a particular kind of job.

Here is how they compare, and what each one means for the way you actually run an operation.

The specifications side by side

Charging figures are DJI's, measured at 25°C. Flight times are DJI's maximums under ideal conditions, and real missions come in shorter on all three.

Dock 2: the one you can move

At 34 kg the Dock 2 is the only one of the three a small team can relocate without planning the move. That matters more than it sounds. A dock covering a construction site, a seasonal risk area or a temporary deployment is a different proposition from one bolted to a roof for five years.

It is also the lightest installation. Less weight on the structure, simpler mounting, lower cost to put in place and lower cost to take out again.

What you give up is the range of weather it can work in, and the turnaround. The dock stops working below -25°C, the aircraft lands in up to 8 m/s of wind against 12 m/s on the newer docks, and a 32-minute charge is the longest gap of the three.

Best for: temporary and relocatable deployments, sites where installation cost matters more than continuous availability, and programmes still proving the concept.

Dock 3: the one that comes with you

Dock 3 mounts on a vehicle, and two of them can run from one vehicle. For a response unit, a mobile command post or an event operation, the coverage goes where the vehicle goes. It also fixes in place like the others, so one dock covers both and you can decide later.

It handles worse weather than Dock 2, operating from -30°C and landing in 12 m/s of wind, and it carries the Matrice 4D or 4TD with their longer endurance and better transmission.

Best for: mobile operations, event coverage, and fixed sites in harsher climates where the Dock 2's temperature and wind limits are too tight.

Dock 4: the one that does not stop

Every dock before this one recharged the pack inside the landed aircraft, so answering one call took the dock out of service for around half an hour. That window is when the second call arrives.

Swap the pack instead and availability stops being the constraint. Over an eight-hour shift, a cycle of twenty minutes flying plus a thirty-minute charge gives you around nine sorties. Twenty minutes flying plus a twenty-five-second swap gives you more than double that.

The thermal camera took the same kind of step. The Matrice 4TD carries a 640×512 thermal sensor and the Matrice 5TD doubles that in both directions to 1280×1024, which is four times the pixels on the same scene. For search and rescue, or for finding someone who would rather not be found, that is the difference between spotting a heat signature and being able to tell what you are looking at.

It also works in colder weather, down to -40°C, and flight time goes to 59 minutes. The aircraft carries a Flight Termination System, which DJI describes as a key technical requirement for C6 compliance. That matters in Europe, because C6 is the class marking required for STS-02, the standard scenario that runs on a declaration to your national authority rather than a full operational authorisation. Whether a given configuration actually holds C6 marking is a question for the manufacturer and your authority, and it is worth asking early because it shapes your timeline.

Best for: programmes where a gap in coverage is the thing you are trying to eliminate, which in practice means Drone as First Responder and continuous perimeter patrol.

What this means per use case

Public safety. Response programmes live or die on availability during busy periods, so Dock 4 is the obvious fit for a fixed site. Dock 3 stays relevant for mobile work, where a dock on a vehicle covers a large incident or a planned event and moves on afterwards.

Security. Patrol intervals have been set by the charge cycle. Dock 4 removes that, so the interval follows the risk assessment instead. For a site that needs coverage only during certain seasons or phases, Dock 2 remains the pragmatic choice because you can move it.

Critical infrastructure. Inspection work is usually scheduled rather than reactive, so the charge gap costs less here than elsewhere. The decision tends to come down to the aircraft and its sensors, the operating temperature range at the site, and whether the dock needs to move between assets.

The part that does not change

The three docks carry three different aircraft, and they do not interchange. A Matrice 3D does not fly from a Dock 3, and a Dock 4 means a Matrice 5TD. So a hardware decision today locks in an aircraft generation for as long as that dock is in service.

Your software layer should not add a second lock on top of that. AirHub is hardware agnostic by design, so the way you plan a mission, watch a live feed, manage a fleet and produce a flight record stays the same across docks, aircraft and generations. When you replace a dock in three years, the operation around it carries over.

AirHub supports DJI Dock 2, Dock 3 and Dock 4 for automated dock operations, so the choice of dock stays a hardware decision and nothing in your workflow changes with it.

Underneath whichever dock you choose: repeatable mission planning so a patrol or a response flies the same way every time, live operations and a shared picture in the Drone Operations Centre, fleet management across aircraft, docks and pilots, and a flight record that holds up when an authority asks.

Choosing

Start from the operation, not the specification sheet. If coverage must be continuous, Dock 4. If it has to move, Dock 2 for a site and Dock 3 for a vehicle. If the site is cold, check the temperature row before anything else.

Then check the authorisation route, because that sets your start date more reliably than procurement does. Our public safety and security pages set out how the platform supports each stage, and our regulatory consultancy team works through the authorisation itself with operators.

October is when the operational calendar shifts. Power line inspections, rail corridor checks and storm damage assessments all accelerate before winter sets in. Security teams are running more missions as the darker months demand more from every drone programme. It is exactly the kind of moment where having the right hardware and the right platform in place starts to show.

DJI recently launched the Dock 4, with battery swapping that cuts turnaround time between missions significantly. For organisations running automated operations, that means more sorties, more coverage, and less downtime. AirHub supports the Dock 4. More on that below.

As always, happy reading.

Stephan van Vuren
CEO & Co-Founder AirHub

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Drone perimeter security: what a dock changes, and what the rules still require

A drone in a dock changes two things: it patrols the fence line without anyone walking it, and it reaches a triggered sensor faster than anyone can decide which camera to open. Both are straightforward to set up. The part that decides whether a security programme actually works is what sits underneath: the regulatory obligations, the flight records, and the authorisation that has to hold before every automated launch.

In the blog we cover how to handle sensors with no API, what satisfying your authorisation before every flight looks like in practice, and where your footage actually needs to live.

Read more →

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Industry insights

Ten years of UAS State Operator in Belgium: drones become essential for emergency services

250 professionals gathered in Genk on 16 October to mark a decade of Belgium’s UAS State Operator programme. Speakers from Belgium and the UK highlighted that successful drone programmes depend on training, procedures and operational integration as much as the technology itself.
Read more →

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DJI Dock 4 and the 25-second battery swap

Where every dock on the market until now recharged in place and took around 30 minutes, the Dock 4 swaps a depleted battery in 25 seconds. For DFR, inspection and security programmes, that changes the coverage calculation entirely. AirHub supports the Dock 4 and the new Matrice 5TD from day one.
Read more →

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Searchlight, megaphone, thermal and AirHub manages it all

Modern security drones carry more than a camera. A searchlight illuminates a dark perimeter in seconds. A megaphone lets the control room issue a spoken warning without sending a guard. A thermal camera detects heat signatures through darkness and light cover.

With AirHub, payload management is built into the platform. Assign payloads to drones, switch between them based on the mission, and have every flight automatically logged with full payload data for compliance and review. The control room gets a live feed. The audit trail writes itself.

Learn more →

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October was dominated by open consultations. The UK, Australia and EUROCAE all put draft frameworks out for comment, which is the point in the process where an operator's input still changes something.

One item needs attention sooner than any consultation. Operational authorisations in the Netherlands that expire on 1 January 2027 have to be extended at least one month beforehand, which makes the real deadline 1 December.

EMEA

Dutch operators have until 1 December to extend. Since 1 April 2026 the ILT only assesses new specific-category applications under SORA 2.5. Holders of an existing authorisation can extend it free of charge by one year, to a maximum of 1 January 2028, with all other conditions unchanged. The application window runs from six months before expiry until one month before it. Miss it and the consequence is not administrative: if the authorisation lapses, operations stop until a new one is granted. For anyone holding an authorisation that runs out on 1 January, that puts the deadline at 1 December. Details are on the ILT's operating permit page.

UK CAA opens four consultations at once. The Civil Aviation Authority is consulting on civil UAS flights over the high seas, on Common Information Service Providers and Discovery and Synchronisation Services, and on System Wide Information Management. Together they set the shape of digital information exchange and complex BVLOS operations in UK airspace. Deadlines run from 8 November to 6 January.

A revised UK airspace change process took effect. CAP1616 Version 6 entered into force on 1 October, updating the procedures for permanent and temporary airspace changes. Relevant to anyone planning UAS testing, trials or future BVLOS operations in the UK.

EASA held its 2026 IAM Implementation Forum on 27 and 28 October, covering practical implementation questions across BVLOS, automation and emerging aviation technologies.

Americas

The FAA awarded 12 million dollars in integration research to 19 companies working on technologies for integrating drones into US airspace.

Brazil updated its experimental flight guidance. ANAC approved revised supplementary guidance for issuing experimental UAS flight authorisations, supporting development and testing work.

Asia-Pacific

Australia extended its broad-area BVLOS trial. CASA confirmed the trial continues while a permanent regulatory approach is developed, which keeps flexible operations across large areas available in the meantime.

CASA opened two consultations. The first covers additional airworthiness-related operational safety objectives under AusSORA, including maintenance, command-and-control links and human factors. The second covers draft guidance on managing conflicts between drones, including flight information sharing, operator coordination and flight monitoring, and is explicitly designed to work without introducing new regulatory requirements.

Malaysia opened an advanced air mobility sandbox with EHang, and Thailand's CAAT supported the launch of medical drone operations in Chiang Mai, looking at healthcare logistics for remote communities.

Standardisation bodies

EUROCAE opened two consultations. Draft ED-339A covers the Network Identification Data Exchange interface, supporting interoperability between U-space service providers and authorised users. Draft ED-325 Volume II provides guidance for EASA's Special Condition Light-UAS Medium Risk, aimed particularly at SAIL III and IV operations.

Dates to watch

What to take from it

Check your own expiry date first. The Dutch extension is free, it buys a year, and the window closes a month before your authorisation does. An operator who assumes the renewal can wait until December finds out otherwise.

Consultations are the cheapest influence available. Four of the items above are open for comment, and the two CASA ones in particular shape how deconfliction and airworthiness evidence will work in practice. Responding costs an afternoon.

The direction across all of it is the same: more structured evidence, more digital exchange between operators and authorities, and more of the burden sitting with the operator to demonstrate rather than assert.

We track this every month. If you want help with an authorisation route, an extension or a consultation response, our regulatory consultancy team works with operators across Europe. And if there is a development we should be covering, tell us.