Drones and Uncrewed Aircraft

Delivery, public safety and military drones flying beyond the pilot's line of sight.

US drone delivery still runs on waivers because the FAA's Part 108 rule has sat at White House review since July 10, 2026, while Meituan passed 780,000 drone orders in China by the end of 2025. The FCC added all foreign-made drones, DJI and Autel included, to its Covered List on December 22, 2025.

Commercial drone deliveries, cumulative: Zipline 2 million · Jan 2026; Walmart (all providers) about 1 million · May 2026; Meituan 780,000+ · Dec 2025 COMMERCIAL DRONE DELIVERIES, CUMULATIVE Zipline 2 million · Jan 2026 Walmart (all providers) about 1 million · May 2026 Meituan 780,000+ · Dec 2025 DELIVERIES
Zipline autonomous miles
125M+
US agencies cleared for first-responder drones
1,000+
Part 108 proposed weight ceiling
1,320 lb
Registry incidents
0

Deployments

Zipline, Meituan and Amazon deliver by drone without a pilot watching each flight

Zipline passed 2 million deliveries in January 2026 and expanded to Houston and Phoenix. Meituan runs 70 drone routes across Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai. Amazon's Prime Air flies from 11 sites in 10 US metros and Darlington, England. In Ukraine, Brave1 reported strikes using AI target homing rose tenfold in 2026.

Flagship drones deployments
DeploymentDeveloper / operatorWhereScaleAutonomyStatusControls declared
ZiplineZiplineDallas area, Houston, Phoenix; Rwanda and others2 million+ deliveries; 125 million+ miles (Jan 2026)Autonomous beyond line of sight, remotely supervisedCommercialNot disclosed
Meituan Drone (Keeta Drone)MeituanShenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Dubai780,000+ orders on 70 routes (Dec 2025)Autonomous to fixed drop pointsCommercialFixed-route network
Amazon Prime Air MK30Amazon11 sites in 10 US metros; Darlington, EnglandHundreds of thousands of packages in 2026 (2026)Autonomous beyond line of sightCommercialNot disclosed

Recent events

  • The FAA missed Executive Order 14307's 240-day deadline for Part 108; Zipline warns the delay is freezing investment.
  • DJI's Ninth Circuit petition against the Covered List decision is pending.
  • Walmart has made about 1 million drone deliveries from 66 stores and plans more than 270 sites with Wing by 2027.
  • Six of seven Ukrainian firms passed Brave1 tests of fully autonomous strikes on moving targets.
  • China had 3.29 million registered drones and the US 837,513.

Attack surface

Five of ten attack-surface dimensions rate very significant or critical

No dimension rates critical. Ratings use five levels, from limited to critical, and cover the paths an attacker or a failure can take into the agent.

Attack surface by dimension: Physical access significant; Identity and authentication significant; Command and control channels very significant; Perception and sensors very significant; Connectivity surface very significant; OTA and update pipeline significant; Data capture and retention very significant; Integrations and permissions moderate; Behavioral and policy boundary very significant; Multi-agent coordination significant Physical access SIGNIFICANT Identity SIGNIFICANT Command and control VERY SIGNIFICANT Perception VERY SIGNIFICANT Connectivity VERY SIGNIFICANT OTA updates SIGNIFICANT Data capture VERY SIGNIFICANT Integrations MODERATE Behavior boundary VERY SIGNIFICANT Multi-agent SIGNIFICANT
Attack surface rating by dimension. Longer, darker bars are rated higher.
Drones attack surface by dimension
DimensionRatingWhy
Physical accessSignificantDrones land at docks, depots and in public places where they can be seized or tampered with
Identity and authenticationSignificantPilot accounts, Remote ID and fleet credentials control who flies what
Command and control channelsVery significantRadio control links can be jammed, hijacked or spoofed
Perception and sensorsVery significantGNSS spoofing and camera blinding mislead navigation
Connectivity surfaceVery significantEvery flight depends on radio or cellular links
OTA and update pipelineSignificantFirmware and geofence databases arrive by update
Data capture and retentionVery significantCameras record everything under the flight path
Integrations and permissionsModerateDispatch, mapping and evidence systems are linked
Behavioral and policy boundaryVery significantGeofences, altitude limits and no-fly zones are the main boundary
Multi-agent coordinationSignificantDocks, drone-as-first-responder networks and swarms coordinate many aircraft

Incidents

No registry incident involves drones yet

The 137AI Incident Registry logs an incident when an agent's failure or misuse caused harm or a regulator acted, and public sources name the developer, the failed control and how it was found. No drones case meets that bar yet. Candidates go on the review list in the registry methodology.

Rules

The US beyond-line-of-sight rule is overdue; the FCC has already cut off new foreign drones

Rules that apply to drones
RuleJurisdictionWhat it requiresStatus
FAA Part 108 (BVLOS)US federalOperating permits or certificates; named supervisor and flight coordinator; yield to ADS-B aircraftProposed Aug 2025; at OIRA since Jul 10, 2026
FCC Covered List, foreign-made UASUS federalNo new equipment authorizations for foreign-made drones and critical parts; existing models stay legalEffective Dec 22, 2025
EU Regulation 2019/947EUOperational authorization for beyond-line-of-sight flights in the specific categoryIn force
CAAC Interim Regulations on UAV Flight ManagementChinaReal-name registration and airspace rulesIn force

Status colors: green in force, blue voluntary standard or framework, amber adopted and phasing in, gray draft or pending, red withdrawn.

Record

Page Record

Agent class
Physical
Datasets
ai_deployments.csv (3 rows for this page); ai_attack_surface.csv (10 rows); ai_incidents.csv (0 linked)
Key sources
Zipline newsroom
Part 108 status (AirData)
FCC Covered List (Akin)
Source notes
Amazon Prime Air MK30: secondary source
Last verified
October 2026