The Federal Communications Commission on Monday formally kicked off a public comment period on one of the most consequential drone policy actions in the agency's history: a proposal to prohibit the continued sale and importation of foreign-made uncrewed aircraft systems, UAS critical components, and related surveillance equipment that the FCC has already flagged as national security risks under its Covered List authority.

The notice, published in the Federal Register on August 24, 2026, comes from the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau working jointly with the Office of Engineering and Technology. It carries the docket number PS Docket No. 26-184 (DA 26-832) and formal citation 91 FR 54713. The document is titled "Comment Sought on Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Certain Covered UAS and UAS Critical Components and Equipment Listed in Section 1709 of FY2025 NDAA." Interested parties — manufacturers, operators, trade groups, and the public — have until September 23, 2026 to file comments.

What the Covered List Actually Covers

The rulemaking traces back to Section 1709 of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which directed the FCC to add foreign-produced UAS and UAS-critical components to its existing Covered List — the same mechanism the agency has used under the 2019 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act to block equipment from companies like Huawei and ZTE from the U.S. telecommunications market. On December 22, 2025, the FCC executed that directive, adding an entire category of foreign-produced uncrewed aircraft systems and their critical components to the list.

According to the FCC's own explainer, "Covered List FAQs: UAS and UAS Critical Components," the addition followed a National Security Determination issued by an Executive Branch interagency review, and the restriction is not aimed at a single manufacturer by name but at a defined set of technical categories tied to the underlying NDAA authority. Once equipment is added to the Covered List, the FCC can move — as it is now doing — to prohibit authorization of new devices in those categories and, potentially, restrict the sale or import of equipment already in the marketplace.

Law firm Wiley, which tracks FCC equipment-authorization actions closely, characterized the December listing as an "unexpected, first-of-its-kind action," noting that the FCC's move to add all foreign-produced UAS and UAS-critical components to the Covered List was broader in scope than prior Covered List additions — before the UAS expansion, the list named 12 specific entities linked to China or Russia, rather than an entire equipment category.

A Second, Related Docket: The "Military-Grade" Categories

Running in parallel to the August 24 notice is a closely related but formally separate FCC proceeding that specifically targets the "military-grade" UAS categories at the center of industry pushback. PS Docket No. 26-189 (DA 26-758), titled "Seeking Comment on Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Certain Foreign-Produced Military-Grade Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) and UAS Critical Components for Non-U.S. Government, Including Those With Swarming Capabilities," was published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2026 (91 FR 48870), opening a 30-day comment window that closes September 2, 2026 — three weeks ahead of the deadline on the broader August 24 notice. The two proceedings stem from the same December 2025 Covered List addition but carry separate docket numbers, separate Federal Register citations, and separate deadlines.

DJI's Pushback: Farm Drones Caught in a Net Meant for Militaries

It is this narrower, military-grade-focused docket that has drawn immediate, organized pushback from DJI, the Chinese manufacturer whose products dominate the U.S. commercial and agricultural drone market and whose devices are widely understood to be a principal target of the underlying policy. Rather than simply filing its own comment, DJI has publicly urged American operators of agricultural and enterprise drones to weigh in before the September 2 deadline.

Coverage from DroneXL details DJI's core argument: the technical categories the FCC has used to define "military-grade" capability — aircraft weighing 55 pounds or more, agricultural spray platforms, thermal imaging or LiDAR sensors, automated docking stations, and swarming capability — describe a wide swath of civilian agricultural and enterprise hardware, not just weaponized or reconnaissance platforms built for militaries. DJI specifically named its Matrice 400 heavy-lift platform and DJI Dock 2 automated docking station as products that meet the letter of those categories despite having no military application, warning that operators who rely on these tools for crop spraying, infrastructure inspection, and enterprise mapping could lose access to replacement parts, software support, or future units if the prohibition proceeds as drafted.

That argument sits at the center of what the FCC's comment period will have to resolve: whether a rule built to keep military-relevant hardware out of U.S. critical infrastructure and government-adjacent use cases can be narrowed enough to avoid disqualifying the crop-dusting and warehouse-inspection drones that make up a large share of the commercial UAS fleet already in American hands.

What Happens Next

Neither Federal Register notice is a final rule — both are calls for public comment. Under standard FCC rulemaking procedure, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology will review submissions before drafting any final order: first for the narrower, military-grade-focused PS Docket 26-189, whose window closes September 2, and then for the broader PS Docket 26-184, whose window runs through September 23. Given the scope of the December 2025 Covered List addition, both dockets are likely to draw comments not only from foreign manufacturers with an obvious stake, but from U.S. agricultural cooperatives, public safety agencies, and enterprise drone operators who use hardware that falls into the disputed technical categories.

Why It Matters

This is the first time the FCC has moved to convert a Covered List designation covering an entire equipment category — rather than a single named company — into an actual import-and-sale prohibition for uncrewed aircraft systems. The outcome will determine whether U.S. drone policy draws a workable line between genuinely military-grade UAS technology and the heavy-lift, sensor-equipped, dock-based commercial platforms that American farmers, utilities, and enterprises already depend on. With the narrower military-grade-UAS docket closing September 2 and the broader covered-equipment docket closing September 23, the next several weeks are the last formal opportunity for operators, manufacturers, and public safety users to shape how narrowly or broadly the final rule is written.

Sources