FCC Files Pentagon DJI and Autel Letters in Covered List Dockets

Nothing moved on or off the FCC Covered List on October 14. What did happen is paperwork: the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released Public Notice DA 26-1106 and filed Department of War (Pentagon) section 1709 letters into the DJI and Autel challenge dockets—redacted cover pages in public, classified letters under seal—while stating the agency did not rely on those materials for related Covered List additions.

If you already own a drone, this notice does not change what you can fly tomorrow. It adds documents to open records fights that still have no ruling.

What DA 26-1106 actually does

According to the public notice and contemporaneous reporting, the Bureau placed into ET Docket 26-22 (SZ DJI Technology) and ET Docket 26-23 (Autel Robotics) letters the Department of War sent to congressional committees under section 1709 of the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. The notice identifies Michael P. Cadenazzi of the department’s Industrial Base Policy office as the sender of those letters.

The public record gets redacted, unclassified cover pages. The classified letters go under seal. The notice’s key line: the FCC did not rely on these materials when it made any related additions to the Covered List.

Why now? The department cited the letters in an April 6, 2026 filing in both dockets, saying they fulfilled its section 1709 duty to report to certain committees. The October 14 notice puts those materials into the formal record of the companies’ challenges.

What section 1709 was for

Section 1709 of the FY 2025 NDAA gave an appropriate national security agency a year to decide whether communications or video surveillance equipment from DJI and Autel poses an unacceptable risk. If no agency decided in time, the FCC had to add that equipment to the Covered List. When an agency does find unacceptable risk, the statute calls for an unclassified report to the appropriate committees, with an optional classified annex.

That statutory clock and Covered List process are why these dockets exist. DA 26-1106 is about documenting the congressional letters—not announcing a new ban, a new exemption or a new sales rule.

DJI and Autel challenges remain unresolved

ET Docket 26-22 holds DJI’s petition for reconsideration (on the FCC’s electronic filing system since January 22). ET Docket 26-23 holds Autel’s application for review (since January 21). The Department of War’s April 6 filing appears in both as an opposition. As of the October 14 notice, neither challenge has a Commission ruling.

So the practical status for operators is unchanged from the Covered List actions already in force: new equipment authorizations and marketplace rules still matter for what you can buy and sell, but this particular notice does not rewrite those lists.

What this means for drone pilots

• Keep flying what you already own legally. A docket filing is not a recall, a grounded fleet order or a change to Part 107.
• Procurement is still the hard part. Public-safety, critical-infrastructure and government buyers will keep asking about Covered List status, Blue UAS alternatives and domestic supply—independent of this notice.
• Do not confuse this with the October parts/marketplace actions. Those were separate FCC steps covered earlier this month. DA 26-1106 is a records notice about Pentagon letters to Congress.
• Watch the dockets, not the rumor mill. Until the FCC rules on DJI’s petition or Autel’s application for review, treat “Pentagon letter” headlines as process, not a new product ban.

Hardware politics move faster than the flight rules. The rules you take the test on—airspace, weather minimums, Remote ID—still start with Part 107. Our Part 107 online course keeps that foundation current while Covered List dockets grind through Washington.

The bottom line

DA 26-1106 files redacted Pentagon section 1709 cover pages into the DJI and Autel FCC dockets, seals the classified letters, and says the Commission did not rely on them for related Covered List additions. DJI’s petition and Autel’s application for review remain open. For pilots, that is a record update—not a new operating restriction.

Sources: Drone Authority (Oct. 14, 2026); FCC Public Notice DA 26-1106 (Oct. 14, 2026); FCC ECFS ET Docket Nos. 26-22 and 26-23

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