FCC grants conditional drone approvals but maintains market leader DJI's exclusion

The continued exclusion of DJI from FCC approvals creates immediate hardware friction for high-end cinematography, as the industry’s most common flight and imaging ecosystem lacks a clear path for new model authorization. While existing fleets remain operational, the lack of certification for future DJI hardware creates a tech-stack vacuum that competitors like Skydio and Parrot are positioned to fill. This regulatory wall signals that the B2B streaming and production industry must decouple from Chinese-made hardware to maintain long-term compliance. Watch for the December 2026 expiration of current conditional approvals as a deadline for a second wave of hardware pivots.

The FCC’s recent actions follow a massive regulatory pivot in late 2025. Per a Public Notice from December 22, 2025, the FCC added all foreign-produced uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and critical components to its ‘Covered List’ of restricted devices. This effectively blocked the import and sale of any new foreign drone models not specifically authorized by the Department of War (DoW). In January 2026, the FCC clarified that only drones on the Blue UAS Cleared List or those meeting ‘Buy American’ standards—where domestic components exceed 60% of total cost—would receive automatic exemptions, according to reporting from UCANR in February 2026.

Since March 2026, the FCC has been issuing batches of conditional approvals for specific foreign models every two to three weeks. On June 4, 2026, the agency added the VEX AIR classroom drone, bringing the total tally of exempt foreign manufacturers to eleven, per DroneXL. These exemptions are notably short-term; every current UAS conditional approval is scheduled to terminate on December 31, 2026. This timeline aligns with the impending expiration of current Blue UAS carve-outs on January 1, 2027.

DJI has attempted to counter these restrictions by releasing results from a third-party security audit. Per Thenéwcamera in May 2026, a study by U.S. firm OnDefend found no critical backdoors or unauthorized data transmissions in DJI’s Air 3S and Matrice 4E models. However, this has not yet persuaded the FCC to move the needle on its pending status for future DJI releases, such as the Osmo Pocket 4. Meanwhile, U.S.-based competitors are scaling rapidly, with Skydio initiating a $3.5 billion expansion in mid-2026 to capitalize on the regulatory vacuum in the professional and public safety sectors.