DJI Pulls the Matrice 4D’s C6 Compliance Off the Dock, Handing STS-02 Operators a Cheaper Path to BVLOS

DJI has extended the existing C6 class certification on its Matrice 4D Series to cover standalone flights with the DJI RC Plus 2 Enterprise controller, removing the requirement that the aircraft launch from a DJI Dock 3 to fly compliant European BVLOS missions. The change applies to the Matrice 4D and 4TD running firmware version 17.1.5 or later, and it took effect through a firmware update rather than any hardware revision.

The practical effect is narrow but real. When DJI first certified the Matrice 4D Series to C6, the certified operational configuration only counted when the drone flew out of the Dock 3. The airframe already met every technical bar the class demands. What was missing was paperwork covering the controller-flown configuration. That gap is now closed, which matters for any operator who wants to run mobile STS-02 missions without bolting a permanent docking station to a site.

I have been tracking DJI’s European certification grind since the company put the world’s first C1 label on the Mavic 3 in 2022, and the pattern holds here: the hardware ships compliant, then the certified configurations widen by firmware months later. The cost story is the part worth slowing down on, and I will get to it below.

DJI Decouples C6 Certification From the Dock 3

The Matrice 4D Series can now fly compliant C6 operations in two certified configurations: docked through the Dock 3 for automated missions, or hand-flown from the RC Plus 2 Enterprise for mobile deployments. Before this firmware update, only the docked configuration carried certified standing.

When DJI announced the Dock 3’s C6 certification in April 2025, it was the first EU C6 designation for any DJI system, and DJI built a full compliance package around it with consultancy AirHub. But that certification was tied to the dock. Operators who fly manually from a ground control station, rather than scheduling automated sorties from a fixed box, were left without a certified standalone path on the same airframe. The firmware update at version 17.1.5 extends the verified compliance framework to cover controller-based operations alongside the Dock 3 integration. Same aircraft, same label, two certified deployment modes.

This is consistent with where DJI has been pushing its enterprise line all year. In October 2025, the company opened up its Obstacle Sensing Module and Manifold 3 computer to the cheaper Matrice 4T and 4E, features that had been exclusive to the dock-deployed Matrice 4D and 4TD. The throughline is DJI unbundling capability from the $20,000-plus dock infrastructure and handing it to operators flying with a controller.

The C6 Class Marking Defines Containment, Not Performance

C6 is a UAS class marking under EU Delegated Regulation 2019/945, built for operations in the Specific category’s STS-02 standard scenario. The label certifies that an aircraft can be contained within a defined operational volume, which is the regulatory precondition for flying beyond visual line of sight over sparsely populated areas.

The technical bar for the class is specific. A C6 drone must hold a maximum take-off mass below 25 kg (55 lb), a characteristic dimension under 3 meters (9.8 ft), and a top speed no greater than 50 m/s (112 mph). It must carry a Flight Termination System that runs independently of the flight controller and cannot be switched off, continuous command-and-control link monitoring, pre-programmed operational boundaries, and geocaging that physically stops the aircraft from leaving its assigned volume. The Matrice 4D and 4TD were engineered to clear all of these from launch, which is why this update needed no hardware change.

The containment requirement is exactly the point of friction European operators have been arguing over for two years. The independent FTS mandate is what drives third-party safety vendors like AVSS to build standalone flight-termination and parachute systems for the Matrice 4D line, and it is what the Dutch Association of Certified RPAS Operators challenged when it argued that SORA 2.5’s flyaway assumptions overstate real-world risk. A factory-integrated FTS that satisfies the class on its own removes one line item from that debate for M4D operators.

STS-02 Permits Mid-Flight BVLOS on a Pre-Programmed Route

STS-02 is the operational reward for C6 hardware. Unlike STS-01, which caps operations at visual line of sight in controlled ground areas, STS-02 permits BVLOS flight during the mission as long as the aircraft follows a pre-programmed route, with takeoff and landing still conducted in visual line of sight.

The distance limits are the operational core of the scenario:

This is the regime that makes linear infrastructure work practical. Power lines, pipelines, rail corridors, and roads that run past unaided visual range are the obvious STS-02 use case. The operator pre-programs the route, deploys from the controller, and flies the corridor without a dock installation or a chain of repositioned observers. Search and rescue benefits on the same logic. In large search areas or under dense canopy where line of sight collapses fast, the BVLOS allowance lets a crew cover ground without leapfrogging the pilot down the search line.

The Aircraft Label Does Not Authorize the Operator

C6 compliance satisfies the aircraft side of STS-02 and nothing more. The operator side stays the operator’s responsibility, and the firmware update waives none of it. DJI is explicit on this in its announcement, and it is the part most likely to trip up a buyer who reads “C6 certified” as “cleared to fly BVLOS.”

Before flying STS-02, an operator still needs an STS-02 declaration or operational authorization filed with their national competent authority, a theoretical knowledge certificate covering standard scenarios, an STS-02 practical skills certificate, an operations manual aligned to the scenario, a maintenance manual and logbook, an emergency response plan, and an observer coordination plan for any flight beyond 1 km. For a crew already operating under STS-01 with current competency certificates, the bridge to STS-02 is the additional practical assessment plus an operations-manual update. That is a documentation exercise, not a small one, and the certified aircraft is only the entry ticket.

DroneXL’s Take

The headline reads like a small firmware footnote, and on the aircraft side it is. The interesting move is economic. A Dock 3 deployment is a capital install. Pulling certified C6 standing onto the RC Plus 2 Enterprise means a search-and-rescue team or a utility inspection crew can run compliant STS-02 sorties with a controller and a case, then add a dock later if the mission justifies it. That is the same unbundling logic that has run through this product line since DJI first paired the Matrice 4D with the Dock 3 as a drone-in-a-box system in early 2025. DJI keeps separating capability from the expensive box, and in Europe that lowers the entry cost for the exact public-safety users who rely on this hardware.

Here is the friction I would watch. This update lands while EASA is mid-revision on the entire Cx framework, a process its drone project manager confirmed is underway ahead of this summer, driven by the European Commission’s drone and counter-drone security package targeting Q3 2026 approval. DJI already holds 26 of the 66 slots on EASA’s approved list. A security-driven rewrite of the class system aimed at hostile drones, not commercial mapping crews, is the kind of regulatory turbulence that can reshape what a C6 label even permits. Whether the standalone STS-02 path DJI just opened survives that revision intact is an open question, and it is the one M4D operators should be asking their national authority before they file.

One more thing DJI’s announcement leaves unresolved. The whole STS-02 case rests on “sparsely populated areas,” and EASA’s guidance on that term is genuinely contested, especially for an uninhabited forest or reserve that sits inside or next to a denser zone. DJI did not address how operators should read that boundary, because it is not DJI’s call to make. It is the national competent authority’s. Until that interpretation is firmer, the certified aircraft is the easy part of this equation.

Source: DJI Enterprise Insights.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.