US slaps a ban on foreign-made drones and components

Ever mindful of security, the US has announced a ban on new foreign-made drones and components key to their manufacture. The Federal Communication Commission’s public notice says that uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons”.

The ban only applies to new devices and components, so anything which has already made its way into the US is unaffected. In implementing a blanket ban on all foreign-produced drones, there has been no need to publish a list of affected models.

In a statement about the ban, the FCC says that the ban was coming as a result of risk assessment on foreign drones. The Commission says that it received a National Security Determination regarding the unacceptable risks posed by UAS and UAS critical components that are produced in foreign countries.

The National Security Determination the FCC refers to states:

AS and UAS critical components must be produced in the United States. This will reduce the risk of direct UAS attacks and disruptions, unauthorized surveillance, sensitive data exfiltration, and other UAS threats to the homeland. Furthermore, it will ensure our domestic UAS and UAS critical component manufacturing is resilient and independent, a critical national security imperative. UAS are inherently dual-use: they are both commercial platforms and potentially military or paramilitary sensors and weapons. UAS and UAS critical components, including data transmission devices, communications systems, flight controllers, ground control stations, controllers, navigation systems, batteries, smart batteries, and motors produced in a foreign country could enable persistent surveillance, data exfiltration, and destructive operations over U.S. territory, including over World Cup and Olympic venues and other mass gathering events. U.S. cybersecurity and critical‑infrastructure guidance has repeatedly highlighted how foreign‑manufactured UAS can be used to harvest sensitive data, used to enable remote unauthorized access, or disabled at will via software updates.

The list of critical components covered by the ban includes:

• Data transmission devices
• Communications systems
• Flight controllers
• Ground control stations and UAS controllers
• Navigation systems
• Sensors and Cameras
• Batteries and Battery Management Systems
• Motors

Explaining some of the details of the ban, the Commission says that foreign-made drones are banned unless they are explicitly mentioned as not being covered. As things stand, the ban covers everything made outside of the US, but there is scope for the list to be updated.

The Commissions says:

Based on these findings, the Executive Branch interagency body, including several appropriate national security agencies, concluded that all the following equipment and services should be added to the FCC’s Covered List because they pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons: UAS produced in a foreign country pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons and should be included on the FCC’s Covered List, unless the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security makes a specific determination to the FCC that a given UAS or class of UAS does not pose such risks and UAS critical components produced in a foreign country pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons and should be included on the FCC’s Covered List, unless the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security makes a specific determination to the FCC that a given UAS critical component does not pose such risks. The determination also included all communications and video surveillance equipment and services listed in Section 1709(a)(1) of the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act (Pub. L. 118-159).

The report from the FCC makes reference to the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics as being potential threat vectors, but does not go into any specific detail beyond this.

You can read the full announcement from the Federal Communications Commission here.

Image credit: FakeStocker / Shutterstock