Trump Administration Releases Two Executive Orders in Major Win for American Drone Industry
Late Friday afternoon, the Trump Administration published two executive orders that will have a significant impact on the American drone industry. These two Executive Orders will change the landscape of American drone operations for the better and put the U.S. on the path to support domestic drone manufacturing and take the lead against China. This is especially critical in the agricultural drone space, where Chinese drones have become extremely dominant. While ADI has no issue with Chinese drones in isolation, it is impossible to ignore the significant national security threat posed by these devices more broadly, and the risk of American farm equipment being at the mercy of a foreign country.
The Unleashing American Drone Dominance Executive Order will ‘accelerate testing and to enable routine drone operations, scale up domestic production, and expand the export of trusted, American-manufactured drone technologies to global markets. Building a strong and secure domestic drone sector is vital to reducing reliance on foreign sources, strengthening critical supply chains, and ensuring that the benefits of this technology are delivered to the American people.’ This is the critical support our industry has long-needed. This E.O. will do the following:
Force the FAA to accelerate the timeline for the BVLOS rulemaking to have a finished rule in place by Q2 of 2026.
Push the FAA to transition from waivers to formal regulations generally, and where waivers are still relied on, facilitate their evaluation using artificial intelligence.
Support the domestic drone industrial base by supporting more government-funded research and development and giving preferential treatment and support to American drone companies.
Protect America from Chinese drones masquerading as American companies through the creation of a specialized Entities List as well as directing the Secretary of Commerce to issue proposed rulemaking and start investigations into threats and exploitations of the American drone market.
Read ADI’s full analysis of the UADD E.O. here!
The Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty Executive Order increases domestic monitoring of drone operations across the United States, a need brought into sharp focus after Ukraine’s execution of the Spider’s Web attacks in Russia on June 1st. ADI applauds the Trump Administration’s efforts to improve the security of our National Airspace System (NAS). This E.O. requires the FAA to share the burden of monitoring drones with state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) agencies, representing a major shift in the enforcement of the FAA’s drone regulations. This increased enforcement responsibility by local law enforcement officers will likely lead to more scrutiny and monitoring for all drone operators across the U.S.
While clearly not the intended target of these regulations, we expect that ag-drone operators will face increased scrutiny, as SLTTs experience pressure from leadership to improve drone-operation monitoring.