Covered List: all foreign-made drones added

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 15 August 2026 ~3 min read

News · Regulatory evolution

On 22 December 2025 the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released public notice DA 25-1086, adding every uncrewed aircraft system produced abroad, together with their critical components, to the Covered List. The action is of a new kind: it targets not a named company but an entire product category, defined by where it is produced.

In short:

All uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) produced abroad are listed, whatever their size.
Drone critical components are listed as well.
The equipment covered by section 1709(a)(1) of the FY2025 NDAA is added alongside.
Listed equipment can no longer obtain a new FCC authorization.

A listing by category, not by company

Until this notice the Covered List worked by naming: this company, these products. DA 25-1086 changes the logic by listing a product category defined by manufacturing origin. The entry covers uncrewed aircraft systems produced abroad, from the smallest consumer quadcopter to much larger systems, along with their critical components.

The notice rests on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, codified at 47 U.S.C. 1601 to 1609, on section 1709 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025, and on sections 1.50002 and 1.50003 of 47 CFR, which govern how the list is maintained. The reference to NDAA section 1709(a)(1) captures communications and video surveillance equipment from Chinese drone manufacturers, DJI and Autel being the two names that provision addresses.

What the listing blocks, and what it does not

The distinction matters and is often misread:

Situation	Effect
New equipment authorization application	Refused for any listed equipment
Importation and marketing of a new device	Blocked, since FCC authorization is the condition of entry to the US market
Devices already authorised and deployed	Not targeted by this notice, which governs the grant of new authorizations

In other words, fleets in service, including at public agencies, are not grounded by this notice. What stops is the arrival of new models on the US market. For a manufacturer the consequence is immediate: a product not yet authorised on 22 December 2025 has no route to authorization.

The effect on integrators

Listing critical components is the point that reaches well beyond the drone sector. An integrator fitting a flight module, a controller or a data-link assembly from a listed source is exposed, even if the finished product is assembled elsewhere.

This move up the supply chain is not isolated. It extends order FCC 25-71 of October 2025 on radio modules, and foreshadows the extension to logic-bearing hardware components made by FCC 26-50 in July 2026. Across three successive instruments, the FCC moved from the finished product to the component.

Narrow adjustments have followed. In June 2026 a Department of War determination removed a narrow class of toy drones from the consequences of the list, defined by a weight of 150 grams or less, a line-of-sight range of 100 metres, a 300-foot ceiling, and no GPS or imaging capability.

What to do

Check the status of pending authorizations: an application filed but not granted as of 22 December 2025 is caught.
Trace the chain of critical flight and data-link components, including through assembly subcontractors.
For a non-drone product, verify that no shared sub-assembly (link module, controller) comes from a listed source.
Do not conflate a bar on new authorizations with a market withdrawal: the installed base remains operable.