DJI Avata 360 Is Likely the Last New DJI Drone You Can Buy in the US. Here Is Why.

I have covered every twist in the DJI regulatory saga for years. The Section 1709 deadline. The FCC Covered List vote. The shell company investigations. The lawsuit. Through all of it, one question keeps landing in my inbox from American pilots: “Can I still buy new DJI drones?” The answer, as of today, is yes — but the window is narrowing fast, and the DJI Avata 360 is one of the last products standing inside it.

Here is what American drone pilots need to understand before March 26.

The Avata 360 cleared the FCC deadline that shut out every future DJI drone

The DJI Avata 360 secured FCC equipment authorization on November 19, 2025, under model number DVN3NT — exactly 34 days before the December 23 NDAA statutory deadline. That timing matters enormously. As we reported in our FCC approval coverage, any drone that cleared authorization before the ban can still be legally imported and sold in the United States. Any drone that did not is locked out.

To understand why that deadline was the hard wall, you need to go back to Section 1709 of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. The law required a US national security agency to complete a formal security review of DJI by December 23, 2025. If no agency finished the review, DJI would automatically be added to the FCC Covered List. No agency conducted the review. No agency was ever assigned to do it. The result was automatic: the FCC added DJI to the Covered List on December 22, 2025 — one day ahead of the NDAA’s statutory deadline — blocking all new product authorizations going forward. As DJI’s own head of global policy described it, the law was built with two trap doors that guaranteed the ban regardless of whether any wrongdoing was ever found.

The Avata 360 is in the clear group. Every new DJI product announced after December 22 is not.

What “FCC approved” actually means for US buyers right now

Having FCC approval before the ruling means the Avata 360 can be legally imported, marketed, and sold in the United States — through the same retail channels American pilots have always used for DJI gear. Leaked Chinese pricing puts the base drone at roughly $426, with the Fly More Combo at around $811. Based on DJI’s standard 15 to 40 percent premium for the US market after tariffs and logistics, expect the base model somewhere around $489 and the Fly More Combo near $999. We covered the full pricing breakdown in our January pricing analysis.

There is one genuine complication worth being direct about. DJI filed a lawsuit against the FCC on February 20, 2026 in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, docketed as Case 26-1029. As we reported in our coverage of DJI’s legal team — which includes former US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and former FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc — DJI argues the FCC’s ruling is procedurally and substantively flawed. Crucially, DJI also claims in its court filings that the FCC has used the ruling to restrict imports of even previously approved products. That creates some uncertainty about whether FCC-approved drones like the Avata 360 move freely through US customs between now and any court ruling. The most likely outcome is that the Avata 360 launches in the US without issue. But American pilots should understand this is not a completely settled situation. For more on what the lawsuit means long-term, see our full FCC lawsuit breakdown.

Gray market preorders are already live — and carry real risks

Before the official March 26 announcement, preorder listings for the Avata 360 have appeared from US retailers at prices well above leaked retail. As we detailed in our preorder investigation, some are listing the drone as “New – Unsealed / Activated / Not Flown.” That combination of words deserves scrutiny. DJI drones can only be activated once. Once activated, the drone has a history on DJI’s servers even if it has never flown. Units sold this way are unlikely to carry a US DJI warranty, and some have shipped with Chinese language defaults — a clear sign they were intended for non-US markets.

Wait for the official launch. The Avata 360 will be available through legitimate channels, and paying a gray market premium for an unannounced product with no warranty is not worth it.

DroneXL’s Take

The Avata 360 is genuinely one of the last new DJI drones American pilots will be able to buy through normal retail channels — at least until the Ninth Circuit case resolves or Congress changes course. The DJI Mini 5 Pro, the Avata 360, and a handful of other products that cleared authorization before December 22 are it. Everything DJI announces after that date stays off US shelves under current rules.

That makes March 26 more significant for American buyers than it is anywhere else in the world. In Europe or Asia, the Avata 360 is an exciting new product. In the US, it is also a deadline. If you want this drone through official channels with a proper warranty and retailer support, the launch window is the time to move. Waiting for a “better version next year” is not a realistic option when no future DJI product has a path to US authorization right now.

I have been skeptical about the severity of this ban for a long time, and I still think the most likely long-term outcome involves either a court ruling or a negotiated political solution that reopens some path for DJI in the US. The geopolitics of the Trump administration’s trade relationship with China make the situation genuinely unpredictable in either direction. But that resolution is not happening before March 26. For American drone pilots, the Avata 360 launch is the show.

Editorial Note: AI tools were used to assist with research and archive retrieval for this article. All reporting, analysis, and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.