The U. S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Monday that it will allow new Chinese toy drones that meet certain technical specifications to enter the US market.
In December, the FCC banned all imports of new foreign drones and their key components, citing“An unacceptable risk to U.S. national security,” Reuters reported, including products from China’s DJI Innovation and Daotong intelligence.
However, the Pentagon does not believe that“Low-tech, risk-controllable toy” products pose a national security threat. According to the department’s findings, this type of UAV in the flight distance, endurance, sensing function, load capacity, connectivity and data acquisition and storage, etc. , they don’t have the“Built-in capabilities and features” of traditional drones.
The FCC has set strict limits on the designation of toy drones, including that they must weigh no more than 150 grams, operate within sight and at a distance of no more than 100 meters, and have no online or networking capabilities, it shall not be equipped with cameras or any sensors capable of monitoring and data acquisition, and the maximum duration of a single flight shall not exceed 10 minutes. Any aircraft that fly beyond that will still be subject to the original ban.
On December 22, the FCC added all non-u.s. drones and their key components to its“Restricted list” for the same security reasons, and it stopped approving any new models or critical components for import or sale in the United States. This means that after the new models (including key components) can not obtain FCC authorization, completely lost U. S. market access. Shortly after the ban, however, the FCC exempted a few models and allowed software updates to patch security holes for drones already in the U.S. market.
In recent years, the FCC has repeatedly used state power to crack down on Chinese companies on the grounds of“National Security”, extending from telecommunications equipment to drones, consumer routers and other niche areas. An industry insider told the global times that in the past, the FCC was an agency that dealt with spectrum, communications and equipment compliance, and few people associated it with export controls and sanctions. But now the agency is turning into a de facto market entry barrier, with growing influence on Chinese companies.
Reuters reported that the United States Department of Commerce delayed the inclusion of Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and chip maker CXMT on a list of restricted entities to avoid escalating tensions with China.