In Announcement Posted on May 8, 2026, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) updated its previous guidance to allow new software and firmware updates for foreign-made drones and routers until January 1, 2029, adding nearly two years to the initial cut-off date.
The FCC’s proposed plan to fight spam calls puts consumer privacy at risk
The main concerns cited by the US government are espionage, unauthorized surveillance, and data infiltration, all of which can be enabled by backdoor exploits built directly into both drones and routers. The most famous example of such a cyberattack is the ongoing Volt Typhoon “Advanced Persistent Threat” (APT), which attempts to leverage compromised hardware, including routers, to steal data and establish “command and control” channels on US cyber infrastructure.
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And although drones are newer than routers, they have been used in corporate espionage since at least 2022, when drones were used Infiltrate the wireless network of a major US financial firm.
From a numbers perspective alone, the size of the vulnerability is frightening: About 60% of US routers are manufactured in China, according to reutersWhile more than 80% of drones operated in the United States were designed and manufactured in China, according to wall street journal.
But put yourself in the shoes of someone who spent serious money for a drone or router, only to find out after the fact that the government has made your purchase illegal. The Consumer Technology Association, advocating on behalf of those very American consumers, issued An open letter to the FTC Just last month, lawmakers were urged to exercise leniency, while also better clarifying which products could be affected by the ban.
Their efforts are probably responsible for this two-year extension, but expect supply lines and manufacturers to become localized again in the coming years as the full scope of the cybersecurity threat becomes clear.
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