A Polish fire and rescue equipment seller has posted an image of an unreleased DJI Matrice 5 with folding arms. It sits among five images in a Facebook post about the Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD that DJI launched on October 14, and the 5TD in the other four has angled arms that do not fold.
The seller, uStrażaka.pl, equips Polish fire brigades and sells the Matrice 4. Its post says its instructors had already flown the new dock system, and the caption describes only Dock 4 and the 5TD. DJI’s launch named no other Matrice 5, and the post was still up on Monday.
The Image Shows Matrice 4 Folding Arms on a Matrice 5 Body
The foldable aircraft in uStrażaka’s image carries a black dome on the top deck and a gray cylinder behind it, the same pair the Matrice 5TD carries. Its arms follow the Matrice 4 layout instead: front arms set high on tall landing legs, rear arms swung out low.
DJI lists the Matrice 4 series with folded and unfolded sizes. The Matrice 5TD specifications give one, 393 by 477 by 230 mm (15.5 by 18.8 by 9.1 inches) without propellers, and the 5TD cannot be flown from a remote controller at all.
From the rear, the battery slot shows a power button and charge-level lights. Both sides carry accessory modules. The right one has a finned housing like a spotlight’s heat sink, and the left one is a box with two square grilles. DJI mounts the 5TD’s spotlight on the right and its loudspeaker on the left.
The gimbal is out of sight, so the image does not show whether this is a thermal model. DJI sold the Matrice 4 as the 4E and the thermal 4T, and it has published no name for this aircraft.
Igor Bogdanov Photographed the Same Airframe in July
This is the second time the foldable airframe has surfaced. Igor Bogdanov’s July 26 photos showed a gray prototype with the same high front arms, tall legs and top-deck dome. His September photo of the Matrice 5TD showed the angled arms DJI launched on October 14.
A collage in the same Facebook post shows the foldable drone in the same pose on the lid of a closed Dock 4, the lid the 5TD sits on in the next frame. The white-background image on our cover appears to be an edited copy of that frame, and Facebook tags the post “AI content” without saying what changed. The collage frame and the July photos show the same arm layout, and the story rests on that layout.
Asked about the price, uStrażaka replied that it had shown a test version, not yet for sale, and that DJI has not announced Polish prices. It credited the invitation to NaviGate.pl, whose hands-on test covers Dock 4 and the 5TD and never mentions a second aircraft.
The Foldable Matrice 5 Has No FCC Path Into the US
The Matrice 4T is the drone American fire and police departments fly from the field, and Princeton police built a program on one in January. A foldable successor cannot get FCC authorization while DJI sits on the Covered List, which took in foreign-made drones on December 22, 2025.
Dock 4’s spec sheet already shows the pattern. It lists transmitter power for Canada, the European Union, China and Japan, and nothing for the FCC. The FCC’s Docket 26-189 proposal would go further and bar foreign drones with thermal imaging or LiDAR from import and sale, which would cover the Matrice 4T itself.
DroneXL’s Take
I think the foldable airframe in uStrażaka’s image matters more to American crews than the dock drone DJI launched last week. A dock program needs a rooftop site and a cloud platform such as FlightHub 2. A Matrice 4T rides in a case in the truck and flies wherever the crew parks. uStrażaka sells the Matrice 4 to Polish brigades, and I expect it to sell them this drone once DJI launches it. A US county fire department can’t buy it, and the FCC’s own proposal would leave a US-built drone with the same thermal sensor on sale. That makes this a test of where a drone is built, and I’d rather the FCC wrote one a drone could pass on its behavior.
Hat tip to Antoine Tissier, who spotted the image and identified it as the non-dock Matrice 5.
Sources: uStrażaka.pl on Facebook, DJI Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD specifications, DJI Matrice 4 series specifications, NaviGate.pl
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
