Drone News UpdateDrone News: DSPA & Blue UAS Report, States Sue FAA, DJI Drone Leak, Skydio's New Drone & Dock
Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update, have four stories for you this week: DSPA asks Congress to look at Blue UAS Report, Fifteen states sue the FAA over drone delivery, DJI's next enterprise drone leaks in China, And Skydio unveils a fixed wing drone and a robotic dock. Let's get to it.
The Drone Service Providers Alliance is asking every drone pilot and first responder in the country to call Congress. This is a group that normally lobbies for commercial drone operators. Its CEO, Vic Moss, says this issue is big enough to step outside that lane.If you haven’t seen the report, DHS tested six Blue UAS listed drones and two Chinese drones in New York City. From the Blue drones, three of them could not hold position, one had a flyaway, and another failed to pair with its controller for up to 15 minutes. The results for the Chinese drones were not released. Of the six tested, the Skydio X10 came out with the best overall score with a 3.7 out of 5 total. The only other aircraft that was able to be tested in the complex urban environment was the Parrot Anafi USA Gov, which got a 2.4 out of 5. Problems with these aircraft included latency, connection issues, and slow boot up and connection times. Based on the results from this report, DSPA wants Congress to name an agency and test every manufacturer’s security the same way as the usability was tested, regardless of country of origin.Fifteen states and Harris County, Texas are suing the FAA. New York's Attorney General filed the case on September 28th. The target is a nationwide environmental clearance the FAA issued in July. That clearance lets the FAA approve new drone delivery markets without an environmental review for each one. The states say the FAA barely addressed lithium battery fire risk, even after an Amazon drone battery burned near a home in Arizona last October. No stay has been requested yet, so deliveries keep flying for now. The DJI Matrice 5D has leaked in China. It's listed at just over three kilograms, about 750 grams heavier than the current Matrice 4TD. These specs come from a leaker, not DJI, so treat it as unconfirmed for now. But the leaker has a good track record with DJI specs. The extra weight likely means built in LiDAR and a built in RTK antenna. This is unfortunately not one we’ll see in the US, as DJI aircraft can’t get approval from the FCC, but it goes to show that DJI is going to continue to innovate.Skydio show off the F10 Lightrunner again, with quite a bit more detail and refinement than the initial announcement. Skydio says it can hit 100 miles per hour, cover a 30 mile radius, and stay on mission for up to two hours. It launches and lands from something called the MegaDock, using a robotic arm that grabs the aircraft out of the air. No runway. No person standing there to catch it. Skydio also announced new software called Asset Command for utility inspections, and Security Command for autonomous property patrols. The pitch is fewer pilots watching individual drones, and more autonomous systems covering entire counties or utility corridors. Skydio says the F10 won't actually reach customers until 2027, and pricing wasn’t released. Based on the infrastructure required for the MegaDock, It’s likely in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. And the conversation continues on Post flight where we discuss these stories uncensored in the Premium Community, link is in the description. We'll see you for the live Q&A on Monday. Have a good weekend!https://dronexl.co/2026/09/28/dspa-vic-moss-dhs-blue-uas-report-congress-ask/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/29/15-states-sue-faa-drone-delivery-environmental-review/https://dronexl.co/2026/09/27/dji-matrice-5td-china-registration-leak-750g-heavier-matrice-4td/https://dronedj.com/2026/09/25/skydio-new-drone-f10-megadock/https://dronexl.co/2026/10/01/dhs-addendum-dji-matrice-scores-blue-uas-hudson-yards/
