FAA Replaces Controversial ICE NOTAM, Pentagon Cites Classified Intel Against DJI, and DJI Teases New Lido Drone

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have four stories for you this week. The FAA publishes a new NOTAM to replace the controversial ICE NOTAM — interesting stuff there. The Pentagon cites classified intelligence to oppose DJI’s FCC petition. The FAA clears the military to use anti-drone lasers in US airspace. And DJI officially teases the new Lido drone launch. Let’s get to it.

Hey, it’s Ben. I’m filling in on news update this week. Greg and the team are out in Lakeland, Florida for the Sun ‘n Fun air show. If you’ve never been, it’s a great time with tons to see. There’s a lot of fun and a lot of sun. It’s running through the 19th, and if you get to stop by the Pilot Institute booth, you can meet some of the team where they may or may not have some free goodies. I’m just kidding — there’s definitely some goodies. All right, let’s get to the stories.

Bonus Story: FAA Replaces the Widely Criticized ICE NOTAM

And a bonus story this week that didn’t make the initial script. The FAA published FDC NOTAM 6/2824, replacing the widely criticized ICE NOTAM FDC 6/4375 that had been in effect since January of 2026. The original NOTAM banned all drones within 3,000 feet laterally and 1,000 feet vertically of any federal mobile asset, but was not displayed on any apps, making compliance almost impossible.

The new NOTAM drops the hard standoff distances, removes the national defense airspace classification, shifts the language from “prohibited” to “advised,” and adds DOJ to the list of covered agencies. It also adopts Department of War language, reflecting the Trump administration’s renaming of the Department of Defense.

Now, accidental proximity is no longer treated as an automatic federal offense, but federal agencies still retain counter-UAS authority to seize or destroy drones deemed a credible threat. While better than the previous NOTAM, this one still leaves a lot to be desired. So let me read an excerpt from the NOTAM to show you what we mean:

“DOW, DOE, DOJ, or DHS may take action that results in the interference, disruption, seizure, damaging, or destruction of unmanned aircraft deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat to covered mobile assets.”

Notice this includes both safety or security threats. We’ll be watching this one — it’s much more open-ended than the last.

Pentagon Cites Classified Intelligence to Oppose DJI’s FCC Petition

First up this week, the Department of Defense has officially filed a memo with the FCC. They’re opposing DJI’s petition to be removed from the agency’s covered list. The Pentagon stated their national security decision wasn’t just based on public supply chain concerns, but relied on both classified and unclassified intelligence. They even submitted a classified document to Congress on April 3rd.

DJI has been fighting on three different legal fronts, including a Ninth Circuit petition and a DC Circuit appeal. But this classified intelligence creates a massive hurdle. How do you defend yourself against evidence you aren’t allowed to see?

Meanwhile, the FCC is pushing forward with new rules to support domestic drone manufacturing under the Unleashing American Drone Dominance Initiative. They recently gave conditional approvals to four non-Chinese drone systems — all enterprise models. Like we said last week, there is absolutely no domestic replacement for a $300 to $1,000 consumer drone like the DJI Mini or Air series. We’ll be watching for DJI’s reply and sharing any updates.

FAA Clears Military to Use Anti-Drone Lasers in US Airspace

In our second story, the FAA has officially given the US military clearance to use high-energy anti-drone lasers in US airspace. This comes after a two-month standoff that shut down commercial flights over the Texas-Mexico border twice.

Back in February, Customs and Border Protection used a Pentagon-owned laser to prevent what turned out to be metallic balloons. The FAA immediately closed all airspace within a 10-nautical-mile radius of El Paso from the surface up to 18,000 feet. The White House eventually had to step in to lift the shutdown.

Then, in a crazy friendly fire incident on February 26th, soldiers used the same laser to shoot down a drone over Texas. It turns out the drone belonged to CBP, and it reportedly cost about $30 million. Ouch.

After these incidents, the FAA and Pentagon ran a live test at the White Sands Missile Range. During the test, a commercial aircraft drifted into the laser’s tracking angle, and the automatic safety shutoff immediately powered the laser down before it could fire. Because of that safety feature’s success, the FAA determined the lasers do not represent an increased risk to the flying public.

If you are flying manned or unmanned aircraft near the southern border, pay attention, because the FAA will be issuing an advisory about increased anti-drone laser activity.

DJI Officially Teases the New Lido Drone Launch

All right, next up. After months of leaks, DJI has officially teased a new drone launch for April 23rd. The teaser uses the tagline “Just Fly” and confirms the Lido name with hashtags for DJI Lido and Lido X1.

Now, let’s talk about the rumored specs. We are reportedly expecting two models, and this could replace the Mini series as the entry-level drone. The Lido 1 is reported to be a sub-250-gram drone with 22 GB of internal storage and a price tag around $330. The higher-end Lido X1 is rumored to have 42 GB of storage and cost around $759.

Both drones are expected to feature multi-band connectivity across 2.4, 5.2, and 5.8 GHz, along with Wi-Fi 6. Flight times are rumored to be around 30 minutes on the standard battery and up to 50 minutes with a heavier Plus battery — and that battery would make it over 250 grams.

The Lido X1’s FCC filing also mentions an SDR transmission to receiver, which has people speculating about O5-class transmission performance. If these specs and prices hold up, the Lido 1 will compete directly with the current DJI Mini 4K, while the X1 may take on the Mini 5 Pro. We’ll have to wait and see.

More Discussion on Postflight

Check out Postflight in our premium community, where Greg, Jason, and I talk about all these stories in more detail. I can’t wait till you get back from Sun ‘n Fun to see what new developments have happened. On news update, we report the facts, but on Postflight, we speculate, share personal opinions, and really get into it.

This is a recurring theme, right? Everybody comes up with these dumb rules, and then they say, “Oh, there’s going to be a deadline of this.” And then nobody knows what happens after the deadline because they’re still trying to figure it out in the meantime. If you want to know what Greg really thinks about these stories, check it out on Postflight.

No live Q&A this Monday. Stop by Sun ‘n Fun on Saturday or Sunday and have a good weekend.

This article is based on a video by Ben from Pilot Institute. Watch the full video on the Pilot Institute YouTube channel and check out more of Greg’s work on his DroneXL author page.