Washington Bars DJI’s Circuitry; Flying Rule Still Waits

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — WashingtonWashington has tightened the rules on what may go inside a drone. It has not finished the rules on where drones may fly.

On Oct. 13 a Federal Communications Commission rule took effect that bars authorization of new devices containing a “logic-bearing” hardware component made by a company on the commission’s Covered List, if the finished device would itself be barred had that company made it. In the drone trade, the companies that matter are DJI and Autel, which Congress named in its defense law for fiscal 2025. The rule closes what the commission called the “component part loophole”: an aircraft assembled by someone else around a listed company’s circuitry.

The rule covers any component that uses digital timing signals faster than 9,000 cycles a second, or radio energy to handle data; housings, fasteners, wiring and plain battery cells are excluded.Logic-BearingFlight controllers, radio modules, camera boards and gimbal controllers all fall inside the definition, DroneXL, a trade publication, noted. Software and firmware are left out for now. The component prohibition does not affect previously authorized equipment; applications pending on Oct. 13 remain exempt unless later amended to add, substitute or change a logic-bearing hardware component.

For American drone makers, the past week adds up to a protected market they must now build for: new designs cannot lean on DJI’s or Autel’s circuitry, the Pentagon has closed bids for tens of thousands of attack drones at prices it set itself, and the rule that would let commercial fleets fly beyond their pilots’ sight is stuck at the White House.

This new component rule does not reach a board merely because it is Chinese-made; separate restrictions already cover foreign-produced drone critical components. On July 21 the FCC extended to Jan. 1, 2028, the exemptions from its foreign-production listing for drones and critical components on the Blue UAS Cleared List or qualifying as domestic end products under the Buy American standard.

DJI asked the Ninth Circuit in February to set aside the December listing on which the new rule builds.The Covered ListThe FCC’s list of equipment found to pose an unacceptable risk to national security. Listed equipment cannot receive new authorization, and without it new products cannot be marketed, sold or imported in the United States. “The FCC can add products to the Covered List only when they present a national security threat, yet it has never identified any threat associated with DJI or its products,” the company said in a statement at the time. On Oct. 14 the commission placed Pentagon letters to Congress in its DJI and Autel dockets, classified parts under seal, saying it had not relied on them in listing the companies’ equipment. On Oct. 16 it again asked the Ninth Circuit to dismiss DJI’s case, the docket shows.

The FCC can add products to the Covered List only when they present a national security threat, yet it has never identified any threat associated with DJI or its products.

The Rule That Waits

The FAA’s final rule for flights beyond the pilot’s line of sight, known as Part 108, has been under review at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs since July 10, according to the office’s public register: 99 days as of Saturday.OIRAPart of the White House budget office, it reviews significant rules before they are published. Under Executive Order 12866 a review normally runs up to 90 days and may be extended; Part 108 passed that mark on Oct. 8. Executive Order 14307, signed June 6, 2025, called for the final rule’s publication within 240 days, as appropriate; that period ended Feb. 1. The Federal Register shows no final rule. Robert Reckert of the FAA told the Commercial UAV Expo in September that the agency hoped to publish by the end of 2026, The Flight Brief reported.

Delivery is spreading anyway, one approval at a time. Until Part 108 is in force, delivery fleets fly under Part 135 air-carrier certificates and FAA exemptions granted operation by operation. Zipline opened its first Central Texas zone, in Round Rock, Tex., on Oct. 8, Community Impact reported. On Oct. 14 CBS Chicago reported that Amazon’s Prime Air drones were delivering from its fulfillment center in Markham, Ill.: 21 drones, each said to reach up to 7.5 miles with packages of up to five pounds.

Residents of Chicago’s south suburbs have raised noise and privacy concerns, CBS reported. Massachusetts lawmakers wrote to the FAA on Oct. 14 about Amazon’s plans there, saying in part, “Local elected officials have sent letters calling for a pause on Amazon’s drone operations pending further review of concerns including noise and safety.” Caitlin Tully, an Amazon spokesperson, said, according to CBS, “Prime Air’s ultra-fast drone delivery is safe, reliable, and the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.”

The Pentagon’s Price

Bids closed Oct. 12 for the Pentagon’s planned purchase of about 60,000 one-way attack drones at prices the government fixed: $5,000 for each Deep Strike drone and $3,000 for each Close-Quarters Battle drone, according to the solicitation. The $450 million third phase of the Drone Dominance Program also buys munitions, priced separately, and carries an option for up to 40,000 more drones at prices vendors propose.Drone DominanceRun jointly by the Defense Innovation Unit and the Test Resource Management Center, with Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane as contracting authority, according to the solicitation. Bidders must show they can build at least 8,000 drones within five months, and the solicitation prefers systems sourced and made primarily in the United States.

The Pentagon’s trial of reusable bomber drones at Camp Grayling, Mich., is expected in early November, and its next round of attack-drone testing is expected in March 2027. DJI’s brief is due in the Ninth Circuit on Nov. 2. Part 108 still has no confirmed publication date.