Replacing DJI in a university UAV program.

What changed for a college fleet

Since December 22, 2025, foreign-made drones cannot receive FCC authorization and federal funds cannot buy them. Existing aircraft stay legal, with updates guaranteed through at least January 1, 2029. Imported aircraft and components now carry Section 232 tariffs of 25 to 100 percent as of September 3, 2026. A program that plans its replacement now buys on its own schedule, at a published price, with grant money still available.

The aircraft for a teaching lab

• The Corvin complete kit, $2,999. Airframe, handheld FPV monitor, and remote controller. A 5-inch class multi-rotor on a 3D printed ABS X-frame, built to order in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
• Crash-tolerant by design. Detachable arms swap in about three minutes with hand tools. Frame parts are printable; a lab with a printer keeps its own shelf of spares.
• Compliant for the grant file. No Section 889 covered components, US-built, with a written component statement on request.
• Records for the program. CorCommand Training, $2,400 a year per site, keeps aircraft health, maintenance and consumables, pilot certificates and currency, training hours per airframe, and a log of every flight.

A ten-aircraft lab, priced

Change the counts to match your enrolment and your crash rate; the per-student line is what a department chair defends. Printed spares move the second-year number more than anything else.

Repair as curriculum

A DJI aircraft that breaks goes back in a box. A Corvin that breaks becomes a lab session: diagnose, swap the arm, print the part, fly again. Programs teaching unmanned systems as a discipline, not just piloting, get more out of an aircraft students are allowed to open.

What the Corvin is not

It is not a mapping or survey platform, and it does not carry integrated thermal or zoom optics. Flight time is up to 22 minutes and payload up to 1.5 pounds. It is the aircraft students learn on. For a survey or inspection course, the Spector and Ranger are in development at published prices, and the agriculture and energy pages describe them.

Questions buyers ask

Can we keep teaching on our DJI aircraft this year?

Yes. Aircraft you already own stay legal to fly, and firmware updates continue through at least January 1, 2029 under an FCC waiver. What changed is that new foreign models cannot get FCC authorization and federal funds cannot buy them, so the next fleet has to be compliant.

Why a 5-inch FPV trainer instead of a camera drone?

Because students crash. An aircraft with detachable arms and 3D-printable parts keeps flying through the learning curve. Repair becomes part of the curriculum instead of a purchase order.

What does a ten-aircraft lab cost?

Ten Corvin complete kits at $2,999, four conversion kits for spare arms and motors, and twenty spare batteries come to $42,190. Add CorCommand Training at $2,400 a year if you want fleet, pilot, and flight records for the program.

Is the Corvin NDAA-compliant for grant-funded purchases?

The Corvin is built in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without Section 889 covered components. EnCor does not claim a Blue UAS listing; if your grant language requires one specifically, check that first.

Can students print replacement parts?

Yes. The airframe is 3D printed in ABS and frame parts can be printed by a program with a printer. Ask for the print files and material notes in a briefing.

Does EnCor provide a curriculum?

Not as a packaged course today. We supply the aircraft, spares, print files, and, with CorCommand Training, the pilot and flight records. Ask in a briefing and we will say plainly what else we can provide for a semester.