Drone policy and regulation news from UASFeed — FAA rulemaking, BVLOS, Part 108, the DJI debate, export controls, and the rules shaping the uncrewed sky.
DJI is rallying its US customer base against FCC proposal DA 26-758, which would bar importing and marketing already-authorized drones in seven "military-grade" categories — from thermal imagers to docking stations — ahead of a September 2 comment deadline.
Read the story →The FAA's 30-day comment period on Wing Aviation's Draft Environmental Assessment for expanded Atlanta-metro drone delivery closed August 1, 2026, moving the company a step closer to scaling beyond its six-store Walmart-anchored footprint.
The FCC added Chinese-made humanoid and quadruped robots to its national-security Covered List on July 28, using the same authorization-blocking mechanism it built for foreign drones — a signal for where UAS rules go next.
A DroneLife survey of FAA, EASA, UK CAA, CASA, MLIT and ICAO rules on operator fatigue lands the same week as an ICAO counter-UAS push and a Commercial UAV Expo keynote comparing FAA-EASA BVLOS approaches.
The FCC quietly removed the 2026 sunset date on Conditional Approval exemptions from its Covered List, turning what was billed as a temporary bridge for foreign-made drones into an open-ended compliance regime.
The FCC has granted Conditional Approvals to two more foreign-produced drones — Exedy Globalparts' Ayre CX and Parallel Flight Technologies' Firefly — letting them sidestep the Covered List ban if they follow onshoring plans and keep passing government vetting.
The UK MoD has picked Tekever's combat-proven AR5 to replace the British Army's troubled Watchkeeper fleet under CORVUS, a programme worth up to £400M over ten years, with an initial six aircraft built at a new Swindon line.
A BIS final rule effective 10 July 2026 pulls the UAE out of Country Groups D:3 and D:4 and adds it to A:5 — unlocking License Exceptions STA, TMP, GOV, TSU, AVS and APR for missile-technology-controlled items, with UAVs used as the rule's own worked example.
From 29 September, CASA can issue any applicable kind of airworthiness certificate to large RPA — and let some of them operate commercially with none at all, subject to a risk assessment and existing operator approvals.
Reported July 21-22: a US-Ukraine statement of intent would let Ukrainian aerial, ground and maritime drones be temporarily exported to America for Pentagon testing — no procurement, no tech transfer, but a direct line into the $1 billion Drone Dominance requirements pipeline.
The FCC is seeking comment on prohibiting the import, marketing, and sale of certain foreign military-grade drones on its Covered List, while extending Blue UAS and Buy-America exemptions to 2028 and opening its first equipment-authorization revocation against DJI-linked Odyssey Robot.
A 6-6 tie sank Minneapolis PD's proposed 75-day Skydio drone trial on July 16, 2026, as council members objected to the company's drone sales to ICE and the Israeli military — a reversal that shows procurement politics now gating public-safety drone adoption.
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