For nearly a decade, a single company — that’s DJI — has dominated the commercial drone market. In most years, the company held an estimated 70% market share amongst both photographers and enterprise users such as police departments and utility inspectors,. But as Washington has moved to clamp down on Chinese-made technology through a wave of federal restrictions, American buyers have not only had to replace their hardware, but also retrain their pilots.
Japanese manufacturer ACSL is among the companies attempting to step into the void — and they seem to be succeeding by many metrics.
ACSL Ltd., Tokyo’s largest commercial drone builder, reported that order volume for its North American subsidiary jumped more than 400 percent in the first half of the year compared with the same period a year earlier. Additionally, North American revenue surged to roughly $6.8 million, as reported in its second quarter earnings report from August 2026.
The company’s flagship aircraft, the SOTEN, is a small, foldable quadcopter designed explicitly to comply with the American Security Drone Act and National Defense Authorization Act mandates. Built without Chinese microchips or optical sensors, it encrypts flight data from end to end and features swappable cameras. It’s also a direct attempt to woo corporate and government clients scrambling for alternatives.
But beyond just making hardware, the company today has announced a new emphasis on training. ACSL today launched a partnership with the Unmanned Safety Institute, which is an industry training organization. Together, they’ve launched an official, standardized certification program for the SOTEN platform. The curriculum will cover everything from basic airframe setup to the company’s proprietary TAKEOFF application and swappable thermal-optical payloads.
“As shipments ramp up, we want every operator to feel confident behind the sticks,” said Cynthia Huang, the chief executive of ACSL’s North American division, in a prepared statement.
USI has a strong history of training drone pilots. Since 2014, it has trained more than 30,000 drone operators and works with over 1,000 organizations, offering everything from FAA Part 107 exam prep to multi-level safety and professional operator programs.
Besides hardware and training, the company has also made some significant attempts to embed itself directly into the software infrastructure of American industry. In fact, just yesterday ACSL announced an integration with Drone Harmony, which is a Swiss software provider whose tools automatically structure aerial images into utility work orders and asset inspection reports. The company has also deepened its push into national defense, securing a $3.3 million order from Japan’s Ministry of Defense and scaling its factory capacity to 30,000 units annually.
Still, building a global robotics hardware business outside of China’s cheap, tightly integrated manufacturing ecosystem is looking like an expensive proposition. While ACSL saw its gross margins improve to 33.2 percent in Q2, it also reported that it would maintain its full-year operating loss forecast at ¥0.76 billion. The company attributed that to pouring capital into overseas sales networks and next-generation autonomous flight research.
What do you think? Has your organization tested or transitioned to the ACSL SOTEN yet? How does the flight experience compare to your legacy gear? Let me know in the comments below!
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