DJI’s Popular Chinese Drones Get Temporary Reprieve, May Still Be Banned

The world’s largest drone maker, Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), will have another year to convince U.S. defense agencies that its products do not pose a threat to U.S. national security.

The Chinese company risked being immediately banned from using its products if the US Senate had included elements of the CCP’s Counter-Drone Act, which pass in the House in September, in its final version of the National Defense Authorization Act. But the Senate instead chose to grant a temporary reprieve to DJI and Autel Robotics, another Chinese drone maker.

The NDAA, which the Senate overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday, now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature. It includes a provision directing an “appropriate national security agency” to review DJI and Autel products.—including drones and any other communications or video surveillance equipment—to determine whether they pose a risk to the United States

The agency has one year from the enactment of the NDAA to make its decision. If it determines that the companies’ products pose a threat, the Federal Communications Commission will be required to place those products on the so-called covered list, which prohibits the marketing and sale of certain devices. Owners of DJI and Autel products will still be able to use devices they purchased before the companies were added to the covered list.

Except for Russia-based Kaspersky Labs, all equipment currently on the list comes from Chinese tech giants, such as Huawei, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hikvision, Dahua Technology, China Mobile International, China Telecom Americas Corporation , Pacific Networks. Corporation and China Unicom Americas.

In a blog post, DJI said it was good news that the CCP’s Counter-Drone Act was not included in the NDAA, but that “the legislation unfairly singles out drones made in China and does not designate no agency to conduct the required risk study. » If no agency assumes this responsibility, DJI products will automatically be added to the covered list, the company said.

Even if someone steps forward to lead the review, many relevant U.S. defense agencies have already taken strong stances against Chinese-made drones.

“The position of the Department of Defense (DOD) is that systems produced by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) pose potential threats to national security,” DOD wrote in a statement. 2021 statement confirming that military agencies were not authorized to use the company’s equipment.

Earlier this year, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a common note warning that the Chinese government could collect sensitive information about Americans and the country’s infrastructure through Chinese-made drone equipment.

In addition to these security concerns, politicians have also targeted DJI due to its market dominance. By most estimatesDJI has controlled at least 70% of the US drone market for several years.

Arguing for passage of the CCP Anti-Drone Act, bill sponsor Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said, “It is strategically irresponsible to allow communist China to be our factory of drones. »