About nine months ago, I made a video saying DJI-style drones would probably keep landing on U.S. shelves even after a ban because shell companies would keep finding ways around it. As of a couple days ago, I’m officially eating crow. I severely underestimated what the U.S. government can do regardless of how the rules are written.

This one is more rant than explainer, but I’ll try to keep it under control. Some pretty devastating news for drone fans in the U.S. just dropped. The FCC has opened a public-comment proceeding on whether certain previously authorized equipment tied to nine covered UAS brands should still be allowed to be imported, marketed, or sold in the United States.

I was wrong about shell companies keeping these drones on U.S. shelves

I made a video a while back saying the government would not be able to stop DJI products or DJI technology from entering the United States through shell companies. I was wrong. The FCC has now moved beyond just listing covered entities and is asking for comment on whether equipment tied to nine named UAS brands should lose the ability to keep being sold and marketed in the U.S.

I still think the market will keep looking for workarounds, because when billions of dollars are at stake people usually find a way. But this move shows the government is willing to go much further than I expected, and it changes the conversation for drone buyers right now, not just someday down the road.

The Sky Rover X1 is one of the clearest examples of what buyers are about to lose

Of the brands on the list, the one I especially want to focus on is the company behind the Sky Rover X1. This is one of my favorite drones of all time. It is very similar to the DJI Mini 4 Pro, but at a much more affordable price, which is why it has been such an attractive option for pilots trying to buy around the current DJI mess.

If you want one of these, or if you’ve been thinking about getting one, my advice is simple: do it now. Russ’s read is that buyers should not wait around and assume these products will stay easy to find through normal U.S. retail channels. If you already buy one of these products before any final restriction takes effect, you are still fine to use it. The products are not being bricked. The issue here is the retail pipeline, not existing owners suddenly losing access.

That matters because these brands have become a real fallback option for U.S. pilots. DroneXL has already covered how the broader pressure campaign created a growing proxy-company network around DJI-linked gear, and this FCC move looks designed to shut that door much harder.

Xtra cameras make the FCC’s logic even harder to defend

The company that frustrates me even more is Xtra. They make cameras, not drones. Products like the Muse 2 and the Muse 2 Pro are basically standing in for DJI’s Pocket line, and I was genuinely looking forward to reviewing one on the channel. I had even been in discussions with Xtra and expected to get one soon.

Now that likely is not happening. And that raises the obvious question: why is the FCC going after camera companies too? If this is all about drone security, it makes even less sense once handheld vlogging cameras start getting swept into the same dragnet.

DroneXL already covered the Muse 2 Pro as a near-clone workaround for DJI’s blocked U.S. camera rollout, which is exactly why this part of the story matters. Russ’s point is that if the shell-company version gets banned while the original DJI Pocket 3 still sits on shelves, the national-security logic starts looking even shakier.

The products may survive in your hands, but the retail pipeline is what gets hit

One thing Russ is very clear about is that this FCC proceeding does not mean people already using these products suddenly become criminals. It does not mean no using. What is on the table is whether certain already-authorized covered equipment should keep being imported, sold, advertised, or marketed in the United States.

That distinction matters, because a lot of pilots are going to hear the word ban and assume their gear will stop working. According to Russ’s reading, that is not what this action does. If the FCC eventually finalizes the restriction, it would hit legal U.S. retail availability far harder than it would hit existing users.

Russ does not think the 30-day comment period will change much

So what can we do about all of this? Honestly, Russ is not very optimistic. There is a 30-day comment period, but he says he thinks everyone already knows those comments are unlikely to change the result because the real decision was made long before the public got a chance to weigh in.

That is the most frustrating part of the whole thing. Russ argues that the FCC keeps presenting these restrictions as national-security measures even though he sees zero evidence of compromised data or data collection that would justify them. In his view, the handheld-camera angle makes that argument look even weaker.

If you have been wanting a Sky Rover X1, an S1, or one of the related accessories and controllers tied to these brands, Russ’s warning is not to assume this window stays open forever. That is the takeaway here. Have a great day everybody, and as always, fly safe and fly smart.

This article is based on a video by 51 Drones on YouTube. Russ is a regular contributor to DroneXL.