The defense bill that decides which drones American agencies may fly — Section 1709, the Covered List, and the compliance fight.
We’ve tracked counter-drone legislation for years, but the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) changes everything for every drone pilot in America. The bill passed the House 312-112 on December 10 and awaits final Senate action this week before President Trump’s expected signature. For the first time, it creates a federal framework allowing certain…
We’ve been tracking DJI’s fight for a fair security review since Congress passed Section 1709 of the 2025 NDAA last December. Today, with just 13 days remaining until the December 23 deadline, DJI shared with DroneXL what may be its final appeal: two letters sent December 1 to top federal officials, urging them to actually…
Orqa, a leading drone maker from Croatia, has opened a larger production facility in the city of Osijek, as Defence-Blog reports. The company says the upgraded plant can now build as many as 280,000 NDAA compliant drones every year, a major increase aimed at meeting the rapid rise in Western military demand. The company explains…
Your DJI drone won’t stop flying on December 23. That’s the core message on the DJI Ban from Vic Moss, President of the Drone Service Providers Alliance, in a new fact-check video aimed at combating the fear and misinformation spreading through the drone community. With just 24 days until the critical NDAA deadline, Moss recorded…
Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have four stories for you this week. A bunch of senators are pushing back against a potential DJI ban. UAS Nexus creates a Blue UAS marketplace. We have Inspired Flight and Ascent Engineering expanding their partnership. And lastly, an M30 drone gets shot down in Ohio. Let’s…
Utah engineering firm unveils NDAA-compliant parts marketplace and MOSA-first FPV platform as Pentagon drone orders surge. While defense contractors battle for Blue UAS contracts, a Salt Lake City engineering firm is solving a more fundamental problem: sourcing the thousands of NDAA-compliant components needed to actually build drones at wartime scale. UAS Nexus launched the Drone…
Teledyne FLIR and Gremsy, have teamed up. The result? Two new NDAA-compliant thermal payloads, the ORUS L and Lynx, both powered by
A one-year U.S.–China trade truce announced after President Trump met President Xi in Busan includes a pause of the Commerce/BIS “50% affiliates” rule, tariff trims, and commitments on soybeans, fentanyl precursors, and rare earths. It does not stop the NDAA clock that could put DJI on the FCC Covered List on December 23, 2025 if…
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