The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) late 2025 Covered List determination banning the use of future models of foreign-made drones and supporting equipment surprised the UAV sector with its scope. The measure came on the heels of the FAA's August 2025 Part 108 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on BVLOS flights that left UAV operators with serious concerns about the industry’s future. 

U.S. drone operators nervously await the FAA’s final BVLOS rule, with wide agreement that the industry’s future will be jeopardized unless the agency heeds public comments and makes significant changes from the draft proposal.

The FCC action was issued just as the 2023 American Security Drone Act’s ban on using U.S. government funds to buy or operate DJI drones came into effect, a blow to many state and local agencies with UAV programs at least partly dependent on federal money.

While DJI and users of its equipment can take solace that the FCC ban still allows current and already-approved models to be operated, many of the company’s drones continue to be stopped at the U.S. border under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (ULFPA), limiting access to the equipment. According to Pilot Institute, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “blocked most shipments of DJI equipment” in 2025.

“It’s a multi-front attack” on the viability of the U.S. commercial and public service drone sector, Vic Moss, the CEO of the Drone Service Providers Alliance (DSPA), told Commercial UAV News. The U.S. government is pursuing several avenues to ban or limit DJI drones, he said.

The federal government is “really pushing the narrative that DJI drones are dangerous,” Moss explained. “That they're spying on us … It's a lack of common sense, and logic is critically absent. It's dangerously absent from the discussion. And so what we're seeing is this multi-pronged approach to say, ‘China bad, USA good’ when it comes to drones, and it's just not the case across the board.”