The Federal Communications Commission has written drone light shows into its definition of military-grade equipment by name, putting the U.S. show industry's Korean-built workhorse and its Chinese suppliers on notice with a comment window that closes on Sept. 2.
Category 7 explicitly names light shows
Public Notice DA 26-758, released July 21 and published in the Federal Register on Aug. 3, opens PS Docket 26-189 to prohibit the import and marketing of previously authorized foreign drones in seven categories. Category 7 covers swarming systems, and its second bullet reaches aircraft built for synchronized formation flight "including applications such as multi-UAS light shows." Six other categories target thermal imaging, LiDAR, docking stations, sprayers, defense-article aircraft, and anything at 55 pounds or more. A 180-day wind-down would follow any final action, and marketing under FCC usage covers advertising, distribution, sale and lease.
Existing fleets keep flying. The proposal exempts continued use of already-purchased equipment along with Blue UAS-listed products, Buy American qualifying hardware and anything holding a Department of War or DHS Conditional Approval. The squeeze lands on fleet growth and replacement.
American operators fly Korean drones
Roughly 70 percent of American drone light show companies fly the South Korea-built UVify IFO, according to UVify Chief Operating Officer Robert Cheek, with the company claiming about 80 percent of the global light show market. UVify is headquartered in Seattle and raised almost $42 million in a Series B round this February, but the Covered List entry turns on country of production, not corporate zip code. Texas-based Sky Elements, Denver's Brightflight Drone Shows and other large U.S. operators fly IFO fleets. Domestic builders Firefly Drone Shows and Verge Aero design and manufacture their own aircraft but nowhere near industry scale.
Chinese suppliers hold the global market
Shenzhen-based Damoda promotes its share of global drone show equipment at 36.4 percent, with Chinese rival HighGreat at 24.1 percent, putting Chinese suppliers near 80 percent combined. Damoda holds six Guinness records including a 10,197-drone show flown from a single computer in September 2024, and made its North American debut over San Diego in May 2025. When Damoda unveiled a containerized system that auto-deploys 648 drones from a truck last fall, The War Zone flagged the platform as a signal of evolving swarm threats.
Nova Sky Stories manufactures across three continents
Boulder-based Nova Sky Stories, built on Intel's original Shooting Star fleet and now backed by Kimbal Musk and Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo, told Yahoo Finance it builds drones in factories in the U.S., Europe and China. Under a country-of-production rule, the China-built portion of an American founder's fleet lands on the Covered List alongside Damoda's aircraft.
Operators urged to file
Creative Skies has published an industry alert arguing that six of the seven categories describe aircraft show pilots never touch and that Category 7's second bullet reaches the whole business, urging show operators to file in PS Docket 26-189 before the Sept. 2 deadline. The proposal follows the FCC's December 2025 addition of Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots to the Covered List and lands alongside a wider policy push captured by AUVSI president Michael Robbins' recent exit for the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Reporting based on FCC Public Notice DA 26-758, the Federal Register, Creative Skies industry alert and DroneXL coverage.