What the New Defense Acts Mean for Drone Developers
Updated September 2026. The original 2020 version of this article covered the then-new NDAA Section 848. The rules have since widened well beyond the Department of Defense.
For most of its history the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) had nothing to say about small drones. That changed with the Fiscal Year 2020 NDAA, and the rules have tightened every few years since. Three pieces of policy now shape what a drone developer can sell to a U.S. government customer, and increasingly to anyone spending federal money.
NDAA FY2020 Section 848
Section 848, signed into law in December 2019, prohibits the Department of Defense from procuring or operating an unmanned aircraft system, or the components that make one fly, if they are manufactured in a covered foreign country, or by an entity domiciled there. In practice that meant China. The covered components are the parts that matter most to a developer:
Section 848 critical components
| Clause | What the law covers | Test | ModalAI parts that answer it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 848(a)(1)(A) | The complete unmanned aircraft system | Manufactured in, or by an entity domiciled in, a covered foreign country | Stinger Vision FPV, Starling 2 Max |
| 848(a)(1)(B) | Flight controllers | Where manufactured | VOXL 2, VOXL 2 Mini |
| 848(a)(1)(B) | Radios and data transmission devices | Where manufactured | MVX digital video, ELRS receiver, radios and modems |
| 848(a)(1)(B) | Cameras | Where manufactured | Image sensor modules |
| 848(a)(1)(B) | Gimbals | Where manufactured | Not made by ModalAI |
| 848(a)(1)(C) | Ground control systems and operating software | Where developed, not manufactured | The VOXL SDK, available in source code form |
| 848(a)(1)(D) | Network connectivity and data storage | Where located or administered | Depends on the network and storage you choose, not only on the hardware |
Note the three different tests. Hardware is judged by where it was manufactured, software by where it was developed, and connectivity and storage by where they are located or who administers them. A domestic flight controller does not make a drone compliant if its ground software or cloud storage fails the other two. The law defines the covered foreign country as the People’s Republic of China, and a covered system includes “any related services and equipment”.
Section 848 is why the phrase "NDAA compliant" appears on component pages. It describes where the part and its critical sub-assemblies were made, not a certification anyone issues.
The American Security Drone Act
The American Security Drone Act of 2023 was enacted on 22 December 2023 as part of the FY2024 NDAA, and it extends the idea behind Section 848 from the Pentagon to the whole federal government. It bars federal agencies from procuring drones manufactured or assembled by a covered foreign entity, bars the use of federal funds, including grants, to buy them, and, two years after enactment, bars federal operation of the ones already in inventory. That two-year transition ended on 22 December 2025.
The procurement side reached contractors through the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The FAR rule took effect on 12 November 2024, and FAR 52.240-1 now appears in federal solicitations and contracts. If you sell to, or build for, a federal agency or a grant-funded program, the clause applies to your aircraft and to the critical components inside it.
Blue UAS: how the government says yes
The prohibitions say what cannot be bought. The Blue UAS program is the list of what can. It comes in three designations, which are not interchangeable, and since 2025 two government agencies have run it: the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) took over the Framework and Cleared lists from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and DIU keeps the Select list.
- Blue UAS Framework covers vetted components: flight controllers, ESCs, radios, image sensors. An integrator can build on a Framework part knowing it has already been reviewed. Managed by DCMA.
- Blue UAS Cleared covers complete, fully vetted aircraft that a government user can procure and fly. Managed by DCMA.
- Blue UAS Cleared Select adds a DIU-approved authority to operate on top of Cleared status, through service sponsorship or competitive selection. Kept by DIU.
A Framework listing does not make an aircraft Cleared, and a Cleared aircraft does not clear its parts for use elsewhere. Read the designation, not just the word "Blue".
What it means if you build drones
The direction of travel is one way. Rules that applied to DoD procurement in 2020 now apply to every federal agency, to federal grant money and to federal operation, and state and local buyers increasingly follow the federal list because it is the easiest way to show due diligence. For a developer that turns supply chain into a design decision made at the start of a project rather than a paperwork exercise at the end:
- Pick the flight controller, radio and camera from Framework-listed or otherwise documented domestic sources before the airframe is designed around them.
- Keep the provenance of every critical component, because a FAR 52.240-1 representation asks about the parts, not just the aircraft.
- Expect the customer to ask whether the complete aircraft is Cleared, or Cleared Select, and know the honest answer.
ModalAI designs and assembles its autopilots in San Diego, California. VOXL 2 and VOXL 2 Mini are on the Blue UAS Framework list, as are the ESCs, ELRS receiver and image sensors that go with them, and Stinger Vision FPV is a Blue UAS Cleared Select aircraft built from those parts. The Blue UAS page lists the current line-up.
