On June 6, 2025, the United States government hit the reset button on drone policy. In a historic one-two punch, President Donald J. Trump signed two Executive Orders around drones.
One, titled “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” was largely focused on enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for commercial and public safety use. The other, called “Ensuring American Sovereignty Over Its Skies” was more focused on drone security.
But while different in scope, both were wrapped with a similar message: innovation and security are now national imperatives for the Trump Administration. It signals a major reboot for the U.S. commercial drone industry that’s spent over a decade mired in red tape (and arguably geopolitical dependencies and policy drift as well).
After all, it was more than 10 years ago that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised packages flying to our door via drone in 30 minutes or less. Today, drone deliveries are mostly contained to suburbs of Dallas (with a few other test projects in a smattering of other American suburbs). But I live in San Francisco, tech capital of the world, and I rarely see drones flying anywhere in this city. Industry experts say that things could rapidly change under this new Administration.
For Lisa Ellman, CEO of the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), the moves were long overdue.
“The Executive Orders truly unlock the potential of the industry and allow it to scale and innovate in a way that hasn’t been possible,” she said in an interview with The Drone Girl.
Separately, the CDA issued a statement that praised the White House.
“We are pleased to see this Administration take decisive action to address some of the biggest barriers to safe and scalable drone use in our country today,” said Liz Forro, Policy Director of the CDA, as part of that statement. “These Executive Orders include several urgent initiatives, including right-sizing the federal aviation regulations for BVLOS operations.”
Trump’s new drone Executive Orders, explained
So what exactly is in these Executive Orders — and why do they matter?
At their core, the directives tackle the two biggest challenges stalling the U.S. drone industry: regulatory stagnation and national security risks from foreign-made drones.
The “Drone Dominance” order does a few things, in that it:
- Accelerates Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) rulemaking
- Streamlines UAS waiver approvals
- Launches a pilot program for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) integration
- Prioritizes U.S.-manufactured drones for federal use and export promotion.
Meanwhile, the “Airspace Sovereignty” order:
- Establishes drone restrictions around critical infrastructure
- Enables detection and counter-drone tools
- Creates a National Training Center for Counter-UAS.
Together, they represent a holistic plan to modernize American drone operations across commercial, public safety, and defense sectors.
“It’s like going from a horse to Ford manufacturing at scale — quickly,” said Michael Healander, CEO of Airspace Link, a key FAA-authorized drone airspace management provider. “The Executive Order is more than just flying a drone further. It’s about airspace security, flying one pilot with many drones, drone manufacturing and having swarms of drones that can do work.”
Healander said he believes that removing regulatory gridlock around BVLOS is the most powerful catalyst for drone growth.
“The Executive Orders remove the most significant regulatory barrier, keeping the drone industry at about 10% of its potential,” he said. “But here’s the critical piece: having a clear path forward of rules and regulations allows massive investment and growth opportunity to come back into our industry.”
Lisa Ellman largely echoed Healander’s feelings.
“Many investors have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for regulatory certainty, and once the rules are implemented I think we will see significant investment,” she said.
Of course, expect that capital to fund not just drone flight operations, but new hardware, software, and autonomous technologies across sectors like agriculture, energy, telecommunications, and transportation. That should be welcome for the industry, which has seen a massive dip in investment over the past couple years.
How does DJI fit in?
It’s hard not to wonder how DJI, the Chinese-based drone manufacturer that hugely dominates both the recreational and professional side of drone-flying, fits in.
DJI has been under increasingly massive scrutiny as of late. Some (generally Republican) politicians have sought to limit or outright ban DJI drones through proposed legislation such as the Countering CCP Drones Act (that Act was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA FY25), which passed in June 2024 the U.S. House of Representatives, but was cut out of the final version that passed).
Following Trump’s new Executive Orders, a DJI spokesperson put out a statement, saying:
“DJI has long advocated for the advancement and growth of the U.S. drone ecosystem. We applaud the administration’s action to boost industry innovation, particularly by expanding routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for UAS for commercial and public safety purposes and streamlining approval and certification processes, as well as broadening the adoption of Remote ID detection technologies and empowering authorities to protect the public from inappropriate drone use.
We look forward to engaging with the appropriate government authorities to ensure that any decisions are made based on the quality and safety of our products.”
Still, DJI is in a tricky spot. And in fact, Trump’s Executive Orders acknowledge what’s become an open secret in the industry: America’s high reliance on Chinese-made drones.
The Trump Administration calls it an over-reliance, suggesting that Chinese-made drones are both a security and economic liability.
Whether or not you agree — if future policy moves toward a full ban on DJI and similar companies — then the short-term disruption will be significant (for better or for worse).
What’s next since Trump’s executive orders on drones?
In the short term, Americans can expect to see immediate changes. BVLOS delivery drones carrying medical supplies, industrial parts and emergency equipment will likely begin flying in more places (albeit in controlled environments). Similar, automated inspections of bridges, pipelines and cell towers will likely increase.
Drone industry advocates say this all will help slash costs and improve safety. And crucially, operators will finally have the regulatory clarity to invest in growth.
“These Executive Orders set a clear timeline for the BVLOS rulemaking that likely shaved significant time off the release of a final rule,” Ellman said. “It’s important to get the rule out so that the public and members of the industry can comment and have time to shape the final rule.”
With coordinated federal leadership, airspace modernization, and industrial revitalization all on the table, this isn’t just a policy shift—it’s a generational inflection point.
“The CDA has always considered innovation and security to be complementary,” said Ellman. “We look forward to working with the Administration to ensure timely execution of these critical mandates.”
As the 270-day countdown to final rulemaking begins, the message from Washington is unambiguous: drones aren’t just gadgets anymore — they’re infrastructure.
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The post Trump’s stance on drones: how we should think about a drone reboot in 2025 appeared first on The Drone Girl.
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