The FCC's 26-189 drone comment window closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on September 2 with more than 250 filings on the record
The final day brought a wave of individual pilots, small survey and ag operators, and Taranis. The FCC denied every extension request, so what is filed by midnight Eastern is the record.
By Joel Kelly
Decision brief
If a thermal camera, a dock, a spray platform, or a LiDAR payload is part of how you work and you have not filed, September 2 is the last day the rule gives you. After 11:59 p.m. ET that day the FCC reads what it has. Nothing about the proposal grounds equipment you already own; the fight is over what can be imported and sold next.
- Window closes
- 11:59 p.m. ET
- Filings on record
- 250+
- Proceeding
- PS Docket 26-189
September 2, 2026. Extension requests denied in DA 26-892
ECFS returns its maximum page; exact count follows
Public Notice DA 26-758, released July 21, 2026
The record
Individuals, small operators, and one ag-analytics firm filled the final day.
Comments on PS Docket 26-189 are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on September 2, thirty days after the Federal Register published the FCC's notice on August 3. The FCC denied the requests to extend that date in Order DA 26-892 on August 28. The docket had passed 250 filings before the final day began; the Electronic Comment Filing System returns its maximum page of results for the proceeding, so the exact count will come from the docket itself once the window closes.
The filings disseminated on September 1 are almost all express comments from individuals, with a handful of companies among them: Taranis, the agricultural-analytics operator; Minister and Glaeser Surveying; Industrial Aerobotics; Mitchell Consulting Group; and several separate filings from staff at HLE Drones. That profile matches who the proposal reaches. Public Notice DA 26-758 defines military-grade by capability rather than brand, and thermal sensors, docking stations, spray systems, and LiDAR are the capabilities that small commercial fleets actually run.
What is actually proposed
Import and marketing, not flight. Capability, not brand.
The proposal is not a grounding order and never was. The notice says continued use and operation of already-purchased equipment would stay authorized. What it would end is future importation and marketing, which the FCC defines to include advertising, distribution, sale, and lease, of previously authorized foreign-produced equipment that meets the capability definitions, with carve-outs for domestically produced equipment, Blue UAS Cleared List hardware, and Buy American domestic end products. This is a separate proceeding from PS Docket 26-184, which names nine company groups.
What to do
File by the deadline if you are affected. Prepare a reply if you already did.
What happens next is a reply-comment window and then FCC deliberation with no statutory deadline. Reply comments answer what others filed; a specific reply from an operator whose fleet is named in the record carries more weight than a general objection. Drone Authority will report the final filing count and the substance of the major submissions once ECFS finishes processing the last-day queue.
Source file
Verify the reporting
- Federal Register: seeking comment on prohibiting importation and marketing of certain foreign-produced military-grade UAS (August 3, 2026; comments due September 2)
- FCC Order DA 26-892: extension requests denied (August 28, 2026)
- FCC Public Notice DA 26-758, PS Docket 26-189 (July 21, 2026)
- FCC ECFS: PS Docket 26-189 filings
- DroneLife: FCC keeps the September 2 deadline (August 31, 2026)
- DroneXL: what the LiDAR category reaches (August 16, 2026)
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