Build NDAA-Grade Drone Hardware — Without Slowing Down
On January 1, 2027, the exemption keeping foreign-made drones and critical components off the FCC Covered List expires — and the Blue UAS carve-out goes with it.
Compliance isn’t a tax. Solved at the schematic instead of after first build, it’s how you ship NDAA-grade hardware faster than the teams still pretending the deadline isn’t coming. That’s what Amtech builds for the open-hardware UAS ecosystem.
The Drone Compliance Cliff Is Real
After January 1, 2027, any flight controller, GNSS receiver, RF data link, or carrier board that traces back to a covered nation — China first among them — is locked out of defense, federal, and federally-funded buyers. Section 848 and the American Security Drone Act already pulled that trigger government-wide in December 2025.
BOMsense
Upload your BOM and it flags country-of-origin, supply-chain, tariff, and sole-source risk line by line — so you catch covered-nation parts at the schematic, while they’re still cheap to swap.
Run your BOM →RapidRFQ
Instant online quoting on your assembly — upload, get real pricing back fast, re-quote on every spin. A compliant alternate part is never more than a re-quote away.
Get a quote →RapidNPI
It’s a land grab. We compress the path from prototype to production so you ship NDAA-grade hardware first — and lock in the programs and Blue UAS positions before the field fills up.
Start your NPI →Vapor Phase + AI
A wide vapor-phase process window solders complex, high-reliability boards cleanly the first time — no custom profile — with AI inspection in-line. Low-void joints that survive vibration, thermal cycling, and RF-dense flight.
See our process →Compliance is a front-end engineering and supply-chain problem — not a tax. Solve it where the board is designed, and you ship NDAA-grade hardware faster than the field.
The Window Is Open Right Now
The exemption closes January 1, 2027. The teams that win the next decade of US drone hardware are getting compliant and getting to market at the same time — not trading one for the other.
Amtech is a US contract manufacturer built for exactly this: NDAA-grade builds for the open-hardware ecosystem, ISO 9001 / 13485 quality, IPC-A-610 workmanship, and front-end engineering that designs the risk out before it reaches the line.
Open-Hardware UAS Ecosystems We Support
ArduPilot
Mature open-source autopilot stack for multirotor, fixed-wing, rover, and sub platforms.
PX4
Open flight-control stack widely fielded across commercial and defense UAS programs.
Pixhawk
Open-hardware flight-controller standard and reference carrier-board designs.
MAVLink / Dronecode
Open messaging and ground-control tooling backbone for telemetry and mission planning.
Companion Computers
NVIDIA Jetson, Raspberry Pi CM4, and i.MX carriers for onboard autonomy and compute.
RF & GNSS Modules
Data links and positioning — sourced and verified for covered-nation exposure before build.