Recently, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) issued a ban on all foreign-made drones. This is because these foreign companies could “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” The government had concluded that foreign drone makers could gather intelligence about sensitive military sites.
In fact, the FCC did not ban all drones made by foreign companies, only new models to be made after the ban was put into place in December 2025. This means that it won’t actually affect most consumers yet, because you can still buy the models that have already been approved by the FCC. It will only start to become a big problem once the drones that are already out right now become outdated, and it will be very hard to get a new model if you live in the U.S.
In a way this doesn’t make sense since models that currently exist could also be used to gather sensitive information. It’s not clear why those existing drones would be exempt from this ban. It’s possible that the old ones are not a problem, but how can we say that the new ones are going to be a problem. In this way, this drone ban does not make sense.
Two of the companies hit hardest by this ban are DJI and Autel, two huge Chinese drone manufacturers that have very big customer bases in the U.S. Chinese manufacturers account for 70 to 90% of drones used in America. DJI actually has 74.34% of the market share. This ban will create a big problem for anyone wanting to get a top-of-the-line drone from foreign suppliers in the future.
This all started in 2019 when U.S. government agencies were banned from using DJI’s drones. Later in 2024, the Countering CCP Drone Act was passed, which put all new DJI products on an FCC list non-authorized list for use in the U.S. and therefore wouldn’t be legally able to broadcast a signal. Finally, in late 2025, a full ban on all new foreign-made drones was enacted, and that’s where we are today.
So let’s say some insane new technological development is made, and you want to get a new drone. Are there any viable American companies that make good consumer drones? Unfortunately, none of the American drone companies are currently making consumer drones on the quality, scale, and price of DJI. There are some American alternatives, such as Skydio or Firefly, but so far no American drone company has been able to become anything close to DJI, and it will be hard to get a good drone in the near future without just going for old DJI models.
Speaking of Skydio: according to opensecrets.org, Skydio has spent $670,000 on lobbying in 2025 alone. To some extent, American companies like Skydio have pushed the ban because of how much it could support their business.
One of the consequences of this ban is that it’s a really good time for new American consumer drone companies to enter the market and take advantage of the situation.
All in all, no new foreign-made drones will be permitted to be sold in the US. For now, you have to work with the existing drones that were approved before the ban was enacted. I think that this will not affect us in a large way right now, but as this drone tech starts to get more advanced, we will start feeling the impact.
Sources:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a69937082/us-bans-new-foreign-made-drones/
https://www.wired.com/story/whats-going-on-with-the-dji-drone-ban/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/23/business/us-ban-foreign-drones-dji-intl-hnk
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2864/text
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