This is a guest opinion by Luis Figueiredo. The introduction is by Haye Kesteloo. Everything below the heading is Figueiredo’s text, word for word, and the views in it are his own.

Luis Figueiredo, known in public safety circles as the “Drone Detective,” runs the drone program at the Elizabeth Police Department in New Jersey. His LinkedIn profile lists 20 years in law enforcement, more than a decade of it spent on unmanned aircraft, and he describes himself as a public safety UAS program developer focused on Drone as First Responder (DFR) work.

Elizabeth PD closed 2025 with about 10,000 DFR flights on two DJI Dock 1 units and one DJI Matrice 350, as DroneXL reported when Figueiredo told agencies to stop panicking about the FCC ban. He flies DJI aircraft and has criticized Skydio before.

On Tuesday DroneXL reported that Skydio CEO Adam Bry said his company will outsell DJI to US civilian customers this year. Bry gave no unit or dollar figures. He stressed that DJI still sells drones in the US and competes with Skydio head-to-head, and by his own account Skydio has “basically zero” consumer sales. Days earlier, Axon became the exclusive distributor of Skydio drones to US and Canadian public safety agencies. Figueiredo answered Bry on LinkedIn on Thursday. DroneXL is publishing his post in full.

Figueiredo’s post refers to lobbying. Skydio is a registered federal lobbying client, and Bry said at Ascend 2024, “Yes, Skydio does have a lobbying team,” which he described as focused on customer budgets and regulatory frameworks. DroneXL reported in 2022 that Skydio hired lobbyists to push for legislation favoring Blue sUAS drones over Chinese-made ones. Bry has denied lobbying for a DJI ban. Of the Countering CCP Drones Act he wrote in July 2024, “We had nothing to do with it and have not lobbied in favor of it.” The FCC added DJI and all foreign-made drones to its Covered List in December 2025.

Luis Figueiredo: “I’d Genuinely Like To See the Numbers, Adam”

So Skydio thinks it’s going to outsell DJI in the U.S. civilian market this year? Congratulations! But let’s talk about that for a minute.

Adam Bry (still can’t tag you btw), Skydio’s CEO, seems pretty confident about the company’s sales projections. And as much as it pains me to say it, he might actually be right if things keep going in this direction, especially with Axon now leading the sales process.

See, I do say nice things about Adam and his company occasionally.

I guess it’s easy to celebrate market dominance when your biggest competitor has been dealt a pretty significant regulatory handicap.

In fact, Skydio is starting to remind me of Tonya Harding. Nothing says competitive spirit quite like celebrating a victory after your biggest competition has been taken out of the game.

And not just taken out. We’re talking hands tied behind their back, both arms shackled, legs chained, duct tape across their mouth, and someone standing behind them with a club ready to take out their knee.

Quite the level playing field, wouldn’t you say?

But there’s another part of Adam’s statement I’d like to understand.

What exactly are we calling the civilian market?

DJI has spent years building a customer base across virtually every segment of the drone industry:

  • Recreational and hobbyist pilots
  • Photography, cinematography and film
  • Real estate and commercial media
  • Construction and infrastructure inspections
  • Energy and utility companies
  • Surveying, mapping and engineering
  • Agriculture and precision spraying
  • Search and rescue
  • Public safety and emergency response

Skydio certainly has customers in the enterprise markets, but let’s be honest: it isn’t competing for the average recreational pilot looking to buy a Mini or Mavic for the weekend.

So are we comparing the same customer base? The same industries? The same opportunities?

Or are we celebrating market share gains in a market where one of the biggest competitors has had its ability to introduce new products effectively restricted?

Here’s another way to look at it:

Imagine opening a business, lobbying to have your biggest competitor kicked out of town, and then holding a press conference to announce you’re now the most successful business in the neighborhood.

Even the mob would appreciate that business strategy.

In the mob, they call it taking over the neighborhood. In the drone industry, apparently, they call it gaining market share.

I’d genuinely like to see the numbers, Adam. Actual units sold, broken down by industry and customer segment.

Because outselling your competition by building a better product is one thing.

Outselling them after helping change the rules of the game is something else entirely.

Source: Luis Figueiredo on LinkedIn, November 12, 2026.

Luis Figueiredo runs the drone program at the Elizabeth Police Department in New Jersey. The views in this guest opinion are his own and do not represent the Elizabeth Police Department, the City of Elizabeth, or DroneXL.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. The introduction is by Haye Kesteloo; the guest opinion is by Luis Figueiredo. Read our editorial standards.