The United States House of Representatives passed a ban on the future sale of DJI drones in the U.S. on Friday, making the DJI ban more likely than not. The "Countering CCP Drones Act" is part of the United States' 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA), a major piece of yearly legislation allotting defense spending for the coming year.

Drone maker DJI is based in China and controls over 70% of the world's drone market share, a combination that threatens U.S. lawmakers. As we first reported in April, 6% of DJI stock lies in the hands of Chinese state-owned businesses, which has led to fears of Chinese government backdoors, national security risks, and other fears of Chinese surveillance using the company's drones. And of course, there lies the more real concern for U.S. lawmakers that DJI's success would continue to strengthen the Chinese economy.

Elise Stefanik, the Republican representative from New York who sponsors the anti-DJI legislation, said of the drones, "DJI presents an unacceptable national security risk, and it is past time that drones made by Communist China are removed from America." Of course, this unacceptable risk has not seemed to faze the U.S. military and police complex, which generally favors use of the drones in law enforcement. DJI products have also been used in the Russian war against Ukraine, a use-case U.S. lawmakers fear though DJI has denounced all military use of its drones.

...

Doing so would eliminate the most popular and highest-end drones used in the United States.

More at https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/dji-drone-ban-passes-in-us-house-countering-ccp-drones-act-would-ban-all-dji-sales-in-us-if-passed-in-senate

ETA bill language:

I believe these are the relevant sections of the 2025 NDAA.

EC. 223. DISMANTLEMENT OF CHINESE DRONE AIRCRAFT OF TO IDENTIFY THE
            ORIGIN OF COMPONENTS AND SECURITY VULNERABILITIES.

  (a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, acting through the
head of the Defense Technology Security Administration and in
coordination with the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, shall--
          (1) fully disassemble a drone aircraft made by the Chinese
      technology company Da Jiang Innovations (DJI); and
          (2) determine the origin of each component of such drone
      aircraft.
  (b) Report.--After completing the actions required under subsection
(a), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report that
includes--
          (1) a list of each component found in the drone, including
      the origin of the component and manufacturer information;
          (2) a description of any security vulnerabilities that were
      identified in the course of disassembling the drone.
  (c) Form.--The report required under subsection (b) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.

EC. 1722. ANALYSIS OF CERTAIN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS ENTITIES.

  (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall conduct an
analysis to determine if any unmanned aircraft systems entity, or any
subsidiary, parent, affiliate, or successor of such an entity, should
be identified as a Chinese military company or a military-civil fusion
contributor and included on the list maintained by the Department of
Defense in accordance with section 1260H(b) of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (10 U.S.C. 113 note).
  (b) Addition of Certain Unmanned Aircraft Systems Entities
Technologies to Covered List.--
          (1) In general.--Section 2(c) of the Secure and Trusted
      Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1601(c)) is
      amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
          ``(5) The communications equipment or service being--
                  ``(A) telecommunications or video surveillance
              equipment produced by Shenzhen Da-Jiang Innovations
              Sciences and Technologies Company Limited (commonly
              known as `DJI Technologies') (or any subsidiary or
              affiliate thereof); or
                  ``(B) telecommunications or video surveillance
              services, including software, provided by an entity
              described in subparagraph (A) or using equipment
              described in such subparagraph.''.
          (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 2 of the Secure and
      Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1601) is
      amended by striking ``paragraphs (1) through (4)'' each place
      it appears and inserting ``paragraphs (1) through (5)''.
  (c) Definitions.--In this section:
          (1) The term ``unmanned aircraft system'' has the meaning
      given such term in section 44801 of title 49, United States
      Code.
          (2) The term ``unmanned aircraft systems entity'' means an
      entity that manufactures or assembles an unmanned aircraft
      system.

God damn our government sucks balls.

Even if they were spy devices, besides seeing the chick 3 doors down sunbathing in the nude, what possible intelligence would be gathered???

I'm more terrified of Google and Amazon devices being tied into the NSA data center in Utah.

With that attitude you'll never get fat campaign contributions from US drone manufacturers.

It’s like the TikTok thing.  Our government wants to be the ones to be able to control them and have access to them and to be able to prevent them from potentially ever being used against them. They want the ability to access them just like they do with communications.

That's whats interesting about this ban; do we even have commercial drone makers in the US?

Attached File
Attached File


One meme was not enough.

I didn’t see anything about assembling your own stuff to make one. I think this is tied to Ukraine/Russia conflict. They are starting to understand how they are a valuable asset on the ground.

Attached File

Not DJI type consumer grade products.  So this presents quite the opportunity.

Only in GD and DU would the MSS be more trustworthy than our government.

Quite the opportunity.  But first a US company has to have the technological capability to build a comparable drone, which none do.

I’m curious what intelligence they’ve gathered that isn’t available on Google Earth. Could you please elaborate?

No no security issues here

From DJI Forum

Mobile data/internet connection is not necessary when flying a drone. however, you will need it when logging in, downloading maps, or upgrading firmware and the Flysafe database. Have a great day.

Nope no issues at all having the chicoms in your networks. Nope.

Drones are something right up Musk's alley. He already has self-driving cars, satellites for communication, and has some products with his Boring Company. Drones would be a perfect fit to use all the data and technology he has from Tesla and Space-X

Interestingly, my wife bought me one several months ago, when I tried to download the app all the anti virus warning went off like crazy to the point I deleted the app without ever using it.   Drone has been sitting in my garage with the battery pulled  ever since

I'd bet 90% of the drones used by government whether police or others are DJI.

Genuinely curious how you expect to download maps, upgrade firmware, or access a database without an internet connection?
Are they capable of collecting info and sending it ‘home’? Most likely. Is it really worth that much to the Chinese compared to what they already can get? Probably not. Should we focus more on our intellectual property getting stolen? yes.

Most of our politicians are owned by China. We’re way past CCP access to our computers.

Only drones that download info to the DOJ will be acceptable.

I work in the mobile app security field.  The DJI mobile android app does some pretty shady shit.
You probably want to be running the DJI app on a disposable phone, not your daily driver.

My question though is if this ban goes through, can you still use your existing DJI drone with a 3rd party app to control it?  There was a pretty good one for iOS already.  I think they were in beta last time i checked for android.

The US government doesn't like competition.

My Dji mini 4 needs internet access when switching from one controller to the other.   One controller is the standard joystick type and the other is the virtual headset.   So far it hasn't been an issue but if I was in a remote location I wouldn't be able to switch.

eta.  I haven't read the bill yet but I thought the bill would ban the US Govt from using DJI.  Not the public.

Remember the Lenovo laptops with Chinese spyware built it?  Pepperidge Farms remembers.

That may not be anything worth worrying about depending on what it was alerting.

Fuck China with a 50grit sand paper dildo but this is exactly right spot the fuck on.

I’d more worried about all the Alexa/Siri/HeyGoogle devices constantly listening everything we say… those are scary…


Anything can be considered a spying device… just open a few back doors using gaming or social app…
People don’t really care and would accept any term to play the latest video game

So where is the proof of who is owned by the CCP? You saying, "most", doesn't make it so. Why on earth would you vote for treason? Yes, one was sleeping with a spy and Biden has received millions from the CCP for his Penn Biden Center at Penn State but that does not translate as "most" does it?  Why is it OK to serve as a free Russian propaganda resource or accept millions for a college front?

Wouldn't be the first time:

US bans Chinese telecom, surveillance cameras

https://www.dw.com/en/us-bans-chinese-telecom-surveillance-cameras/a-63895206

The US communications regulator singled out tech giants Huawei and ZTE and surveillance camera makers Hikvision and Dahua. Spy chiefs have warned that the US could be vulnerable to economic espionage or digital sabotage.

I recall a memo for all local state and federal installations of these products to be immediately removed.

...

Court upholds FCC right to ban tech from Chinese-owned telecom companies

April 3rd, 2024
https://therecord.media/court-upholds-fcc-ban-on-hikvision-dahua-products

Is this because China or because the .gov is seeing how damn effective drones can be in a war?

I'm under NDA so can't get into specifics.  You dont want that garbage on your phone.

Why would that be an issue with Android and not with iOS?

I wonder which drone company those in Congress have invested in? I’m sure Nancy know.

This!

Good.

Let's not fund Chinese military weapons development.

Good time to start a drone company in your basement.

"Drones" are not rubber dogshit. They are they type of high tech products we should be
making right in the USA.
Fuck China.

Lol

The Gov should put more effort into banning Chinese, Russian and Iranian students from attending U.S. engineering schools and subsequently being employed by the DoD.

Unless it’s a Mini or something, I’ll pay shipping.

Federal .gov agencies are already banned from buying Chinese drones for any purpose.

FPNI, pretty ridiculous.

Oh... so NOW they're concerned about Chinese economic power? Decades after they've driven countless American businesses into the ground with taxes and regulations while allowing cheap Chinese goods to flood the consumer market. After entire industries have gone under or moved offshore - unable to compete. After decades of 'Made in China' being more common than any other origin label...

Now they care about Chinese economic power.

Made in the USA with out sourced parts.

So what is our friends within the government going to do to those owning all the DJI drones already being used?

Our Government is thoroughly corrupt, beyond any hope whatsoever.

Send it to Ukraine. It'll be one and done. No more virus. No more T-80.

I never dreamed of running a drone from my personal phone.
I bought something with a decent cpu and fairly bright display (not comparable to the display in DJI's standalone controller) for about $50, pulled the SIM card, and use that.

For sale:

six year old DJI drone

$10,000

Cant get these any more
I know what I got