Unusual Machines CEO Allan Evans joins our hosts to discuss how tariffs and U.S. regulations are reshaping the drone industry, UMAC’s position as a Made-in-USA drone component supplier, and the growing demand for Pentagon-certified drone technology.
What Allan Evans said
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Allan Evans, CEO of Unusual Machines, discussed the company's presence at AUVSI Xponential, the largest domestic drone show, where they hosted a flight cage to showcase parts. He noted the show's reinvigoration and the broader reindustrialization of America, with government support and a shift back to US manufacturing. Evans highlighted regulatory tailwinds, including FCC bans on foreign drones and parts, Department of War funding, and counter-drone contracts for the FIFA event. He mentioned international companies seeking US-compliant parts. Evans confirmed the upcoming acquisition of battery company Up Great Energy in Torrance and expressed excitement about scaling the business. He also reflected on the show's location in Detroit, symbolizing manufacturing revival, and the company's role as a parts vendor amid industry growth.
Key takeaways
Unusual Machines hosted a flight cage at AUVSI Xponential, attracting partners and customers to fly drones, making the booth a center of attention.
Evans sees a policy tailwind from FCC bans on foreign drones and parts, pushing manufacturing back to the US.
The company plans to close the acquisition of battery company Up Great Energy in Torrance.
Evans emphasized the reindustrialization of America, with the show in Detroit symbolizing manufacturing revival.
International players are contacting Unusual Machines to bring technology to the US with US parts for compliance.
A person I consider a good friend and of course friend of the program and just a really good guy, Allan Evans, CEO of Unusual Machines, stock symbol UMAC. Directly back from a really interesting trip in terms of trade shows. Boy, you guys were at the biggest one. Alan, great to talk to you man. But does he wear Tribal Lines? You know, he does wear Tribal Lines.
Oh, is that - Yeah, you know, which by the way feels the same. I will tell you that you're exactly right. I'll hand that one to you buddy. The merino wool guy here. Yeah, the interesting part about what you just went through, I want you to talk about the convention you were just at because this is a big deal. And you guys had a flight cage.
Yeah, it was super cool. AUVSI Xponential, which is like the biggest domestic drone show of the year for small drones. And our marketing team had this really cool idea, because how do you show off parts? It's pretty boring. And they're like, let's just have a giant flight cage, because see that little propeller over here? Got a propeller over here, a couple of super tiny nuts over here. Okay, that makes sense. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. They're bored. But we had this giant cage and we invited all our partners and customers to come fly their drones in these hour slots. And so the whole time all these different cool drones were just flying in our booth and people were around and we got to see everything. And it's really neat because for the first time in years the show sort of felt like it was back. And it's a hardware show where a few years ago it was software. Everybody built maps. So there's this really great, you know, Campus Guardian flies in schools to stop shooters or Brink which does stuff for police or some of the DOD folks doing, you know. We even had one of the Shahed counter-drone things hover in there. That was crazy. It was really neat.
Is this a statement to you on the state of the industry? That suddenly there's this reinvigorated - I mean you guys are at this really substantial AUVSI Xponential show and all of a sudden you guys are the talk of the town. I mean listen, I read about it not just from you and I talking and texting. I read about it in the outside world out there. I mean you guys were sort of a buzz a little bit about what was going on there.
I think it's definitely a comment on not only the industry but on reindustrialization in America. This stuff's coming back and people are really excited about it and the government's done a really good job of promoting it. And then from our end, we're walking around and we're like, look at all these cool drone concepts and what we don't see is other people doing the boring parts. And so you're like, oh yeah, okay, I guess we're the parts vendor. And really just pumped about what our customers are doing with that. But it is coming so fast right now and it's so big and it was really interesting to be there and have the FAA come to our booth and see stuff. The head of the drone dominance program was there. Some of the defense officials, the national security folks, or people who run airports. It was like this confluence of everyone that sort of touches the airspace as everything's going on and it was neat because we're showing off everybody and we were sort of the center of it. It was a rush.
Hey, I can imagine. Let's talk a little bit about this policy sort of tailwind as I see it in that industry. Do you get the impression that there's a policy tailwind in your guys' direction based on what's happening and what's happened over the last year and a half? And is that something that you think that your colleagues would share if they're at the show?
10 more exchanges in this transcript
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Evans, A. (2026, May 21). Allan Evans, CEO of Unusual Machines | The Big Biz Show [Interview transcript]. LOFT100 Studios. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1170847/
MLA
Allan Evans. "Allan Evans, CEO of Unusual Machines | The Big Biz Show." LOFT100 Studios, 21 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1170847/.
BibTeX
@misc{evans2026_1170847,
author = {Allan Evans},
title = {Allan Evans, CEO of Unusual Machines | The Big Biz Show},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, LOFT100 Studios. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1170847/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
