FCC moves to ban Lidar-equipped foreign drones from US

The Federal Communications Commission is moving to ban drones with LiDAR obstacle-avoidance features. The FCC said in a public notice published in the Federal Register on August 3 that it proposed retroactively banning the import and sale of any foreign-made drone on its Covered List that contains or integrates a LiDAR sensor. The proposal builds on a ban the FCC set in motion late last year when it added all foreign-made drones and their critical components to its Covered List on December 22, 2025. The new proposal seeks to retroactively strip sales clearance from previously approved drone models that escaped the initial ban. The proposal is open for public comment until September 2, 2026, and if adopted as written, the ban on imports and sales would take effect roughly 180 days after publication.