FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the ban would ‘unleash American drone dominance.’
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it will ban all new models of foreign-made drones due to national security concerns, a move that will shut out Chinese drone manufacturers DJI and Autel from the U.S. market.
The FCC said in a Dec. 22 public notice that its decision was made after obtaining results from an executive-branch interagency review convened by the White House, which concluded that foreign drones and related critical components pose “unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons.”
“I welcome this Executive Branch national security determination, and I am pleased that the FCC has now added foreign drones and related components, which pose an unacceptable national security risk, to the FCC’s Covered List,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement.
“Following President [Donald] Trump’s leadership, the FCC will work closely with U.S. drone makers to unleash American drone dominance.”
The determination warned that foreign-made drones are at risk of being used for “attacks and disruptions, unauthorized surveillance, sensitive data exfiltration, and other UAS [unmanned aircraft system] threats to the homeland.”
The FCC said addressing these risks is essential to restore U.S. “airspace sovereignty,” warning that “criminals, hostile foreign actors, and terrorists” using foreign-made drones could pose serious threats to upcoming major events in the United States, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the America250 celebrations, and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The move would not prevent consumers from using drones they already own, the FCC said, nor would it ban retailers from selling or importing existing models previously authorized by the commission.
The addition to the blacklist means DJI and other drone companies will no longer be able to obtain the FCC approval required to sell new drone models or critical components in the United States.
The review said the Pentagon or the Department of Homeland Security could later determine that certain drones pose no risk and exempt them from the restrictions, according to the FCC.
DJI, a private company headquartered in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, said earlier this month that “more than 80% of the nation’s 1,800+ state and local law enforcement and emergency response agencies that operate drone programs use DJI technology.”
The Epoch Times contacted DJI and Autel for comment, but didn’t receive a response by publication time.
By Frank Fang
