Drone Law Brief | Feb, 2026: MoD published Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure; Kar HC hears drone trespass case

Editors' note

• Ministry of Defence has published Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 which will replace DAP 2020 and streamline defence acquisitions.

• Karnataka High Court stays drone trespass FIR against NRT and flags key questions on police jurisdiction and aerial property rights. 

• The Federal Aviation Administration, US expanded drone restrictions, advanced BVLOS rulemaking and withdrew proposed restrictions on Chinese imported drones. 

• The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s January 2026 Drone Code update tightens registration, class marking and remote ID requirements while consolidating operational and privacy rules for Open category drones.

• Eurocontrol published the U-space Implementation Handbook, with live drone operations into practical guidance to close implementation gaps and enable scalable BVLOS integration.

  
  

India

1. Ministry of Defence Releases Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 for Public Comment

The Ministry of Defence has published the Draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 (‘Draft DAP 2026’), which will replace the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 once finalised. The procedure governs all capital acquisitions by the Ministry and Service Headquarters, covering domestically sourced and imported equipment. The stated doctrinal shift is from ‘Made in India’ to ‘Owned by India’ with co-development and intellectual property ownership within Indian entities as the central objective. Source codes, critical design data, and upgrade authority must be retained by Indian entities. Notably, the procedure for acquisition of aerospace systems is being finalised separately in consultation with stakeholders and will be incorporated into DAP 2026 subsequently.

Quality assurance is being restructured from government inspection to self-certification and third-party certification, and bank guarantee requirements have been rationalised to free working capital for research and development. Exportability has been introduced as a desirable qualitative requirement for new platforms, with a stated target of Rs 50,000 crore in annual defence exports by 2030.

Acquisition Categorisation Framework

Capital acquisitions are classified under three broad schemes: Buy, Development, and Additional Procedures. The table below summarises each category in plain terms.

Category	What it means in practice
Buy (Indian-IDDM)	Purchase from an Indian company that has designed, developed, and manufactured the product in India. Highest preference; mandatory if two or more eligible Indian vendors exist.
Buy (Indian) and Manufacture in India	Purchase from an Indian vendor who may source technology from a foreign OEM via Transfer of Technology, with progressive indigenous manufacturing in India.
Buy (Global) and Manufacture in India	Buy from a foreign OEM with a requirement that they set up manufacturing in India (via subsidiary, JV, or ToT to an Indian partner). Foreign OEMs must be willing to transfer technology.
Buy (Global)	Outright purchase from a foreign vendor. Lowest preference; not available for items on the Positive Indigenisation List. Every Buy (Global) case must be accompanied by a parallel proposal for indigenous development.
Make-I	Government-funded prototype development by Indian industry. Used for critical, high-risk equipment where industry will not self-fund development. MoD bears prototype costs.
Make-II	Industry-funded prototype development by Indian vendors. No government funding for prototypes; vendor carries development risk.
Make-III	Indian industry manufactures an existing product (technology absorption from foreign OEMs permitted via JV or ToT). No in-house design requirement.
iDEX	Grants-based development by startups and MSMEs through the Defence Innovation Organisation. End-product procured under Buy (Indian-IDDM). Now a mainstream acquisition pathway.
Technology Development Fund (TDF)	DRDO-supported development grants for MSMEs and startups. End-product procured under Buy (Indian-IDDM).
Design and Development (D&D)	DRDO or DPSU-led development of high-risk, critical equipment. Used where Indian private industry lacks capability or willingness.
Fast Track Procedure (FTP)	Expedited procurement for urgent or fast-evolving technologies. No field evaluation trials; contracts capped at 24 months from AoN. Covers emergency and peacetime urgent requirements.
Low Cost Capital Acquisition (LCCA)	Limited-quantity indigenous procurement (up to Rs 75 crore per case) for evaluation before large-scale procurement. No RFI, SQR, or trials required; only Buy (Indian-IDDM) or Buy (Indian) categories eligible.
Strategic Partnership Model (SPM)	Private Indian firm acts as system integrator for major platforms, building an ecosystem of sub-vendors including MSMEs.
Leasing	Asset-based financing where the Armed Forces use equipment without ownership. Two sub-categories: Lease (Indian) and Lease (Global).
Inter-Government Agreement (IGA)	Government-to-Government procurement, including co-development and co-production arrangements with friendly foreign nations.

Items listed on the Positive Indigenisation List cannot be procured under Buy (Global), Buy (Global) and Manufacture in India with non-zero buy quantities, or Buy (Indian) and Manufacture in India with non-zero buy quantities. Import of any defence equipment, regardless of value, requires explicit approval of the Defence Acquisition Council.

Implications for Drone Companies

What Has Become Smoother

COTS procurement pathway now formalised. Commercially off-the-shelf (COTS)drone products that meet applicable IS/BIS or equivalent certifications can now be accepted on vendor certification alone, without field evaluation trials, EMI/EMC testing, or Maintenance Evaluation Trials. Only delivery acceptance trials apply. The preamble explicitly names COTS drone swarms as a target category under the Civil-Military Fusion policy. This is a material acceleration for commercial drone manufacturers whose products already carry civilian certification.

iDEX as a direct route to production contracts. iDEX is no longer a pilot. Products developed by startups and MSMEs under iDEX are directly eligible for Buy (Indian-IDDM) procurement, the highest-priority category. This removes the prior ambiguity about whether an iDEX-origin product could compete on equal footing in formal procurement.

LCCA enables low-friction evaluation sales. The LCCA route allows Services to procure indigenous drone systems worth up to Rs 75 crore per case, across an aggregate annual ceiling of Rs 2,000 crore, purely for evaluation. The procedure is exempt from RFI, SQR formulation and trials. For smaller drone companies seeking a first contract without navigating a full procurement cycle, this is a meaningful entry point.

Fast Track Procedure for short-cycle technologies. The Acquisition Wing will promulgate a specific list of equipment with short development or technology cycles eligible for Fast Track Procedure. Drone systems are natural candidates given their rapid innovation cycles. FTP allows contracts to be concluded within 24 months of AoN, bypassing field evaluation trials entirely.

MSME reservation threshold raised. Cases with an AoN value up to Rs 100 crore are reserved for MSMEs, provided at least two eligible MSMEs can participate. This directly benefits smaller drone manufacturers competing for sub-threshold contracts.

Self-certification and reduced bank guarantees. The shift from government inspection to self-certification and third-party certification reduces compliance overhead for drone suppliers in ongoing contracts. Bank guarantee rationalisation reduces working capital locked in procurement processes.

What Will Likely Become Harder

Mandatory domestic sourcing of drone engines. Para 30 of Chapter I mandates that engines for RPVs and drones manufactured in India be procured as Buyer's Nominated Equipment (BNE) in applicable contracts, on par with aero engines and marine engines. These procurements will not be treated as single vendor cases . For OEMs supplying complete drone systems, this creates a supply chain compliance obligation: propulsion subsystems must be sourced from Indian manufacturers in applicable Buy categories. Companies that currently integrate foreign propulsion systems will need to identify Indian BNE suppliers or face category eligibility constraints.

Stricter IP retention requirements will constrain foreign partnerships. All acquisitions under Buy (Indian-IDDM), Make-I, Make-II, and SPM categories require that the Indian vendor be owned more than 50% by resident Indian citizens or Indian companies, capping permissible FDI at 49%. For joint ventures between foreign drone OEMs and Indian partners, this FDI ceiling applies to the most preferred procurement categories. Additionally, the DAP requires that source codes, critical design data, and upgrade authority remain with Indian entities across all capital acquisitions, limiting the extent to which foreign partners can retain proprietary control over jointly developed platforms.

Positive Indigenisation List exposure. Items placed on the PIL cannot be imported under any route, and every Buy (Global) proposal must be accompanied by a parallel proposal for indigenous development. As India's drone PIL is expected to expand, foreign drone OEMs not yet manufacturing in India face the risk of being locked out of procurements progressively. Companies should track PIL notifications from MoD closely, as placement on the list forecloses import options with immediate effect.

Technology Readiness Level certification is now mandatory. For Buy (Indian-IDDM), vendors must demonstrate TRL 5 to 9, certified by a GoI-recognised agency. For Make-I and Make-II, the indigenous technology must be at TRL 1 to 5 at entry, with a clear development pathway. Drone startups entering procurement for the first time will need to obtain formal TRL certification, which adds time and cost to the qualification process.

2. High Court of Karnataka stays police investigation into drone trespass FIR against NRT

   
   

The High Court of Karnataka in M/S New Space Research and Technologies Private Limited v. The State of Karnataka (WP 3862/2026) on 6 February 2026 stayed further investigation in FIR Crime No. 24/2026 registered against the petitioner and directed the concerned police inspector to file an affidavit on the averments made in the petition.

NRT, which is a drone manufacturer, submitted that it holds a licence for research and development for Flying the Drone in the Green Zone of Doddabalapura. Recently, battery malfunction caused one of its drones to glide into a neighbouring property. No complaint was filed by the property owner. Despite NRT producing its licences showing the drone was operating in a permitted Green Zone, a police inspector detained company officers for over six hours and subsequently registered a criminal trespass FIR, without furnishing a copy to the petitioner.

NRT's counsel argued before the court that under the Drone Rules, 2021, the police have no jurisdiction over drone usage and that the DGCA is the sole competent authority in such matters.

This case appears to be the first reported case pertaining to trespass by drones in the country. There will be various important aspects for courts to settle in the coming time with respect to such alleged trespass by drones, including the effect of alleged trespass due to weather conditions and mechanical failures. It will also be interesting to see how trespass over private property is defined. In our 2025 Wrap, we noted that the UK High Court had dismissed an action brought by a private party stating that a drone operator had flown over a private property, by stating that flying at a height of 50 meter feet can not be said to cause interference.

NRT is also before the High Court of Karnataka in another matter. In April 2025, the court constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by the Director General of Police to investigate the alleged theft of NRT's proprietary UAV source codes and defence technologies by former employees. We covered that case in detail in our article issued  in December and in our 2025 Wrap.

3. Three unstarred questions in the recently concluded session of the Parliament brought out information about the adoption of drones and related government schemes:

a. Gaps in SVAMITVA scheme monitoring despite large-scale drone deployment

Smt. Kamlesh Jangde and seventeen other Members of Parliament posed Unstarred Question No. 690 to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj on 3 February 2026, asking whether the Ministry had assessed the SVAMITVA Scheme's impact on land dispute reduction and transparency in land governance, and whether it maintained data on time savings in land record verification, mutation, and registration.

Minister Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh responded that the Ministry has conducted no study on land dispute reduction, maintains no data on time savings in verification or mutation timelines, and has no information on improvements in land administration efficiency in tribal or hilly regions. The Ministry attributed this to land administration being a State subject. The SVAMITVA scheme has completed drone surveys across thousands of villages in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha, with the Ministry coordinating with Survey of India and State governments to issue technical guidelines and standard operating procedures for drone-based surveys.

The Svamitva scheme was launched by the central government in April, 2020, to help people in villages get legal ownership papers for the houses and land they live on - using drones and special mapping tools to clearly mark property boundaries. Given this stated objective, the scheme data should have been used to determine impact on dispute reduction and efficiencies brought. 

b. Ministry confirms DGCA licensing compliance under Namo Drone Didi scheme

Smt. Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah and seventeen other Members of Parliament posed Unstarred Question No. 1630 to the Minister of Rural Development on 10 February 2026, asking about the number of agricultural drones distributed to Women Self-Help Groups under the Namo Drone Didi Scheme, the number of beneficiaries who transitioned into the "Lakhpati Didi" income category through drone rental and spraying services, and the success rate of trained women in obtaining DGCA-authorised drone pilot licences.

Minister of State Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani responded that Lead Fertilizer Companies have distributed 1,094 drones to Women SHGs across 22 states between 2023-24 and 2025-26. All recipients were trained at DGCA-authorised Remote Pilot Training Organisations and have secured drone pilot licences. However, the Ministry stated that no study or assessment has been conducted to determine how many women beneficiaries transitioned into the "Lakhpati Didi" category specifically through income earned from drone rental and spraying services during 2024-25. State-level committees comprising representatives from Agriculture, Rural Development, NABARD, ICAR, and Lead Fertilizer Companies are responsible for cluster selection, SHG selection, pilot training, and ensuring business for drone services.

Schemes like Namo Drone Didi have had a major impact on adoption of drones, besides the secondary effects on development of the drone ecosystem with the establishment of RPTOs, research centres, etc. 

c. Ministry of Civil Aviation reports the number of  registered drones as of January 2026

Smt. Sajda Ahmed posed Unstarred Question No. 2282 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 12 February 2026, asking whether the Government has a national roadmap for civilian drone use in rural and remote areas, seeking state-wise registration data, and inquiring into measures to prevent misuse while encouraging deployment in healthcare, agriculture, disaster response, and infrastructure mapping.

Minister of State Shri Murlidhar Mohol responded with information on Drones Rules and amendments thereto, actions taken with respect easing Remote Pilot Certification and drone registration, etc. The Minister stated that as of 31 January 2026, 38,475 drones have been issued Unique Identification Numbers across India, with Maharashtra accounting for 8,210 registrations, Tamil Nadu 5,878, Telangana 3,657, Karnataka 3,258, and Delhi 3,070.  However, the numbers stated by the minister seem to be incorrect, because as of the date of publication of this newsletter, there are only 26,601 UNs issued as per the information available on Digital Sky. 

4. High Court of Punjab and Haryana denies bail in cross-border drone smuggling case

The High Court of Punjab and Haryana in Gurmej Singh v. Union of India and Another and Gurmukh Singh v. National Investigation Agency on 5 December 2025 dismissed bail applications of two accused charged with smuggling arms, ammunition, explosives, and narcotics via drones from Pakistan.

The National Investigation Agency alleged that between June 2021 and August 2021, co-accused received eight consignments of narcotics, weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials via drones on the India-Pakistan border. The accused concealed these items at pre-decided locations, photographed the locations and shared images via WhatsApp and Viber with Pakistan-based handlers for collection by other associates.

The court held that after examining the chargesheet and documents, there were reasonable grounds for believing the accusations were prima facie true, which bars release on bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The court observed that money received from sale of narcotics smuggled via drones was used for terror funding and that the accused were actively involved at the behest of handlers operating from across the Pakistan border. The trial court has been directed to expedite proceedings.

5. Delhi Government Forms three- member Committee to Draft State Drone Policy

The Government of Delhi formed a three-member committee to draft a drone policy for the city, officials confirmed on 19 February 2026. The committee is headed by the Secretary of the IT Department and includes a Delhi Police officer and a Special Secretary of the Home Department. 

It will draw on expertise from IIT Delhi and is studying existing policies in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The initiative follows a directive from Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena issued after a blast near Red Fort in November 2025. The policy is expected to cover security and surveillance alongside civilian uses including aerial surveys, agriculture, disaster management and deliveries. No official order or notification has been published by the Delhi IT Department and the editors could not locate an official government source for this development at the time of writing.

Global

United States

1. FAA Issues Open-Ended NOTAM Prohibiting Drone Flights Near Moving Federal Assets

The Federal Aviation Administration on 16 January 2026 issued a Notice to Air Missions prohibiting drone operations above or near federal military or law enforcement personnel and their vehicles. The NOTAM carries no fixed start and end date and defines no specific geographic area. Because the restriction attaches to moving vehicles, including those deployed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the area of prohibited airspace shifts in real time. The NOTAM replaces an earlier, narrower prohibition covering facilities and mobile assets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. Violations carry civil fines, certificate revocation and federal criminal prosecution. Where a drone is deemed to pose a credible threat to protected personnel or assets, the NOTAM authorises counter-UAS mitigation including interference with, interception, seizure or destruction of the aircraft.

The American Civil Liberties Union characterised the NOTAM as excessively broad, citing the absence of defined geographic boundaries as a basis for concern about its application to journalists and members of the public. It was reported that federal immigration agents in M had separately attempted to prevent citizens from filming enforcement operations during the same period, raising concerns of it being  first amendment violations.

2. FAA Releases BVLOS 200-Foot Waiver Checklist for Public Safety Operators

The FAA published the PAO-PSO 91 BVLOS 200 ft Waiver Checklist in January 2026 for Public Safety Organisations operating Public Aircraft. The checklist supports public safety organisations applying to waive certain provisions for beyond visual line of sight operations conducted as public aircraft operations at or below 200 feet above ground level. The document sets out pre-identified mitigations that applicants must address to submit a satisfactory safety case to the FAA.

Operators seeking routine BVLOS operations above 200 feet are directed to a separate detect-and-avoid checklist, which requires FCC-approved, ASTM and RTCA standards-compliant electronic detection and avoidance systems capable of detecting both cooperative and non-cooperative manned traffic. 

3. FAA Reopens Comment Period on BVLOS Normalisation NPRM

The FAA published a notice on 28 January 2026 reopening the comment period for the Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations NPRM. The original comment period, which we reported in our October newsletter, had closed on 6 October 2025. The FAA has not indicated a change to the substance of the proposed rules; the reopening provides stakeholders who did not participate in the initial round an additional opportunity to submit comments. The underlying NPRM proposes performance-based regulations for the design and operation of UAS at low altitudes beyond visual line of sight and for third-party services including UAS Traffic Management.

4. Commerce Department Withdraws Chinese Drone Import Restriction; FCC Covered List Remains

The US Department of Commerce withdrew its proposed restriction on Chinese drone imports on 9 January 2026, abandoning a rule submitted to the White House in October 2025 under the agency's Information and Communications Technology and Services authority. Officials indicated the decision was tied to the administration's decision to freeze certain actions targeting China ahead of a planned Trump-Xi meeting in April 2026. Had it been finalised, the Commerce proposal would have gone further than the FCC action reported in our 2025 Wrap, potentially targeting drone components regardless of where a device was assembled.

The FCC's 22 December 2025 covered list addition blocking new equipment authorizations for foreign-manufactured UAS remains in force. On 7 January 2026, the FCC updated the list to carve out two temporary exemptions valid until 1 January 2027 drones and components on the Department of Defense's Blue UAS cleared list. 

Existing, previously authorized DJI and other foreign models remain legal to import, sell and operate. However, the FCC restriction stops new foreign drone models from entering the US market. As current fleets age, operators will not be able to upgrade to newer DJI models or source replacement components from covered manufacturers. For commercial operators in agriculture, infrastructure inspection and public safety who have built their businesses around DJI hardware, this creates a growing fleet renewal problem. Domestic alternatives exist but are significantly more expensive and less accessible for smaller operators.

United Kingdom

The Drone and Model Aircraft Code (CAP 2320), January 2026 Edition

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (“CAA”) released the updated Drone and Model Aircraft Code (CAP2320), effective January 2026. The Code applies to drones and model aircraft flown outdoors in the Open category (A1 – Over People and A3 – Far from People). It consolidates operational, registration, competency and safety requirements in a single compliance document and forms the syllabus for the Flyer ID theory test. This edition formalises the lowered registration threshold: a Flyer ID is mandatory for aircraft weighing 100g or above, while an Operator ID is required for aircraft weighing 250g or above, or 100g and above if fitted with a camera. From 1 January 2026, new aircraft placed on the market must carry UK class marks (UK0–UK6), replacing reliance on EU CE classifications, subject to transitional recognition of C-class drones until 31 December 2027.

The Code reiterates the core operational limits: a maximum height of 120m (400ft), a general 50m horizontal separation from uninvolved persons (subject to weight and class-based exemptions), a prohibition on overflight of crowds and a 150m buffer from residential, commercial, recreational and industrial areas in the A3 sub-category. It introduces a mandatory Remote ID activation requirement for UK1, UK2 and UK3 class drones from 1 January 2026 and requires a flashing green light for night operations. The document also integrates privacy guidance referencing data protection law and reinforces that breach of legal requirements may constitute a criminal offence.

Importantly, it touches on how drone operations may invade privacy while using drones fitted with cameras and flying over areas where people would ideally expect privacy, such as their homes or gardens. It will be interesting to see the interplay of this Code with actions brought before Courts for trespass like those discussed above and in earlier editions. 

European Union

1. U-ELCOME consortium and Eurocontrol publish U-space Implementation Handbook

The U-ELCOME, a 51-partner consortium, in collaboration with Eurocontrol published the U-space Implementation Handbook (“Handbook”) in January 2026. The Handbook consolidates early operational experience from U-space deployments across Europe to provide guidance for implementation of U-space services. Three years of operational experience from U-space deployments across France, Italy, and Spain, including over 1,000 drone flights in urban, suburban, and cross-border environments, into practical guidance for national authorities, ANSPs, and U-space service providers are distilled into the Handbook.

U-space refers to the regulatory and technical framework for managing drone operations in low-level airspace. The Handbook addresses practical implementation challenges including technical service provision, certification requirements, operational procedures, and coordination between U-space service providers and air navigation service providers. The publication endorses the European Union's Drone Strategy 2.0, following the entry into force of EU U-space regulations in January 2023.

The Handbook targets the implementation gaps that have persisted since the EU U-space regulations entered into force in January 2023 such as how to formally designate U-space airspace, how multiple service providers can interoperate within a single airspace volume, and how to coordinate with existing air traffic management systems. Despite two years of the regulatory foundation being in place, implementation across member states remains uneven. The Handbook is designed to prevent each member state from independently rediscovering the same bottlenecks.

In India, on the other hand, no equivalent exists. The Airports Authority of India has been designated to develop UTM systems under the Draft Civil Drone Bill, 2025, but no operational UTM architecture has been deployed and no practitioner-facing implementation guidance based on live operational experience has been published, a structural gap that will need to be addressed before BVLOS operations can scale in India.

2. Easy EASA Updates Easy Access Rules on Remote Aerodrome Air Traffic Services

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency published on 29 January 2026 an updated revision of the Easy Access Rules for Guidance Material (“EAR”) on Remote Aerodrome Air Traffic Services. The revision incorporates EASA ED Decision 2023/005/R of 30 March 2023, which introduced Issue 3 of the guidance material.

Remote aerodrome air traffic services commonly implemented through remote tower systems which use camera arrays, sensor feeds, and data links to allow controllers to manage aerodrome traffic from locations physically separate from the airport. The consolidation of this guidance material under the EAR framework signals EASA's intent to treat remote tower operations as a standardised and permanent feature of European airspace management rather than an experimental programme. 

For drone operators, the significance lies in interoperability: U-space service providers and UAS traffic management systems must coordinate with aerodrome air traffic services and the regulatory clarity on remote ATC procedures directly affects how high-density drone corridors near aerodromes will be designed and approved across Member States.

3. UAV Export Prohibitions Against Iran

The Council of the European Union on 29 January 2026 adopted Decision (CFSP) 2026/263, amending Decision (CFSP) and extending the EU's restrictive measures against Iran under the dedicated drone and missile sanctions rules originally established on 20 July 2023. The January package sanctioned four persons and six entities directly involved in Iran's UAV and ballistic missile programmes, bringing total designations under these rules to 24 individuals and 26 entities. The sanctions have been extended until 27 July 2026.

The Council also extended the ban on export, sale, transfer, or supply from the EU to Iran to cover a broader range of components and technologies used in the development and production of UAVs and missiles. The prohibited categories now include energetic materials and mixtures, electronics, computers, telecommunications and information security equipment, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics systems, aerospace and propulsion technologies, and any technology specifically designed or adapted for the testing, development, or production of drones and missiles. The measures were published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on the date of publication. 

European manufacturers and distributors of dual-use drone components, including navigation systems, sensor payloads, and propulsion hardware, must ensure that export compliance programmes account for this expanded list, as the categories are broad enough to capture commercial-grade equipment with potential military adaptation. 

Australia

1. CASA Closes Consultation on CASR Part 21 Amendments

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (‘CASA’) published the summary of consultation for CD-2514MS on 28 January 2026, covering proposed amendments to Part 21 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998 (CASR) and the corresponding Manual of Standards. The central proposal would allow foreign non-civil aircraft to be type certified in the restricted category for special purpose operations, with aerial firefighting cited as a primary use case. CASA confirmed that no significant policy changes are expected as a result of feedback received and that it will proceed with implementing the amendments while publishing additional guidance material where needed to support compliance.

Part 21 sets out the certification and airworthiness requirements for all aircraft and aircraft parts in Australia, including unmanned aircraft systems. The restricted category pathway is directly relevant to UAS operators seeking to deploy foreign-manufactured drones for special purpose work in Australia, where those aircraft may not meet standard civil certification requirements but are cleared for specific operational uses.

For UAS operators, the restricted category pathway removes a significant barrier to deploying foreign-manufactured drones for specialised work in Australia where standard civil certification is not available or practical. Aerial firefighting is the cited use case, but the same pathway is relevant to other special purpose operations such as infrastructure inspection and emergency response where purpose-built foreign aircraft are commonly used. CASA’s confirmation that it will proceed without significant policy changes provides regulatory certainty for operators who have been waiting on this outcome before committing to procurement or operational planning.

2. CASA Simplifies Approval Process for Drone Operations Over and Near People

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority introduced a general exemption under Exemption Instrument CASA EX45/24 removing a duplicate approval requirement for remotely piloted aircraft operator's certificate (ReOC) holders. Previously, operators who obtained CASA approval to fly within 30 metres of uninvolved people under regulation 101.029 of CASR, or to fly over another person's safety zone under CASA 20/25, were still required to separately obtain an exemption to fly in a populated area. Under the new instrument, the populated area exemption is automatically conferred on ReOC holders who hold the underlying operational approval, eliminating the need for a second application.

The change applies to very small, small and medium remotely piloted aircraft. All other Part 101 rules remain in force, and operators must continue to comply with their operations manuals and the conditions attached to their existing approvals. CASA also announced a trial for RePL training organisations that use medium remotely piloted aircraft, under which chief remote pilot instructors may be assessed with a generic rating rather than undergoing a separate flight test for each medium RPA model in their fleet. Both measures reflect a pattern of CASA reducing administrative duplication in areas where the underlying safety assessment is already captured by an existing approval process.

United Arab Emirates

Sharjah Executive Council Reviews Draft Drone Regulation Law

The Sharjah Executive Council on 20 January 2026 reviewed a draft law governing drone use in the Emirate. Council members requested additions to the draft before it is referred to the Sharjah Consultative Council to complete the legislative process. The draft is intended to regulate drone usage in alignment with the UAE's federal drone legislation under Federal Decree Law. 

For operators active in Sharjah, this means compliance will require attention to both federal GCAA requirements and any additional conditions introduced thereunder. The Council's request for amendments before referral to the Consultative Council indicates the draft is not final and the legislative timeline remains uncertain. Operators and commercial drone service providers in Sharjah should monitor the Consultative Council process closely, as the final law may introduce permit requirements, operational restrictions or enforcement mechanisms specific to the emirate that go beyond the federal baseline.