DJI Faces $1.56 Billion Loss as FCC Ban Sidelines 39 Products in 2026

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have three stories for you this week.

DJI reveals that 25 unreleased products are stuck in regulatory limbo right now. Reliable Robotics has raised $160 million for what you’ll see is a pretty cool thing. And Starlight Aerial Production made history at Sun ‘n Fun, and we were there to witness it. Let’s get to it.

DJI’s Products in Limbo

First up, DJI has filed a sharply worded brief — to say the least — in its 9th Circuit Court fight with the FCC, and they finally put some specific numbers on how much the current ban is actually hurting their pipeline. According to the filing, the FCC has already voided authorization for 14 existing products, which includes five drones and nine other products that are currently unreleased, and then also 25 planned products that they were supposed to launch in 2026.

This means that a total of 39 DJI projects will not be hitting the market this year due to the FCC ban. According to DJI, this will cause them a $1.56 billion — with a B — loss for the calendar year alone. DJI’s legal team filed a briefing arguing that the FCC is trying to run out the clock by not making a formal decision.

DJI is also making a major argument from a constitutional perspective, claiming that the FCC staff shouldn’t have the power to ban entire product categories without having the full commission vote and without judicial review. DJI is also asking the court for a six-month pause on the ban to force the FCC to make a formal decision and issue a final ruling.

This is obviously a massive deal for the drone industry, specifically for consumers, public safety, and even some enterprise users. We’re going to keep you posted on this and keep a close eye on what the courts say after all of this documentation.

Autonomous Airplane Flights

Second up is Reliable Robotics, which has closed a $160 million funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to nearly $1 billion. If you’re not familiar, that company is trying to certify an uncrewed Cessna 208 Caravan. This is a large aircraft under Part 23 airworthiness rules. Instead of building a brand new drone from scratch, they’re trying to retrofit an already certified Cessna 208 with a continuous autopilot that handles taxi, takeoff, cruise, and landing, while using ground operators to monitor the flight.

They actually flew a Cessna with no one on board for 12 minutes back in November of 2023, and now they’re planning to run autonomous cargo routes between airports in New Mexico and Colorado starting in the summer. This is a huge step for large beyond visual line of sight operations by putting autonomy into an airframe that the FAA has already approved, knows, and trusts.

They’re cutting a clear pathway for autonomous cargo missions in the future. If they start moving paying freight in US controlled airspace this summer, this is just going to be a major jump forward and set a massive precedent, quite frankly, for every commercial operator out there.

Drone Show Makes History

Last up, Starlight Aerial Production and Red Bull completed what they describe as a first in airshow history: three people in wingsuits flying through an illuminated drone formation at approximately 2,000 feet above the ground during the night show.

The demonstration was part of the event Red, White and Blue at 52, which is marking the 52nd annual expo at Sun ‘n Fun and the 250th anniversary of the United States. As you can imagine, the performance required months of planning, safety validation, and a lot of rehearsal coordinated with the FAA, Starlight, and Red Bull in order to put all of this together.

Crewed human flight with an unmanned aerial system in a live audience setting — that’s basically what they did. The drone formation used American-made Aurora drones from Lumineer and was choreographed to create a three-dimensional lighted gateway, if you will, that was timed with the wingsuits coming straight through.

Let me tell you, this was actually really impressive. We watched it twice — once from our hotel and once from the ground at Sun ‘n Fun itself — and it was really, really impressive to see. The drone show in general was just really impressive because they were flying so high. They were 2,000 feet above the ground, and you could see it from a distance. Really cool demo, and congrats to the team that did that — Matt and his crew.

This article is based on a video from Greg Reverdiau’s Pilot Institute YouTube channel. You can find more of Greg’s coverage on his DroneXL author page.