Will Discontinue Use Of DJI Drones Over Possible Security Issues

The Department of the Army has discontinued use of any Chinese-built drone, leading to the grounding of UAVs it had acquired from drone giant DJI.

According to the memo, which was acquired by sUAS news, due to an increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products, "it is directed that the U.S. Army hald use of all DJI products. This guidance applies to all DJI UAS and any system that employs DJI electrical components or software including, but not limited to, flight computers, cameras, radios, batteries, speed controllers, GPS units, handheld control stations or devices with DJI software applications installed."

The memo bluntly states "Cease all use, uninstall DJI applications, remove all batteries/storage media from devices, and secure equipment for follow-on direction."

sUAS news reports that it reached out to DJI concerning the matter. Public Relation Manger Michael Perry said in an email that the company is "surprised and disappointed to read reports of the U.S. Army’s unprompted restriction on DJI drones as we were not consulted during their decision. We are happy to work directly with any organization, including the U.S. Army, that has concerns about our management of cyber issues.

"We’ll be reaching out to the U.S. Army to confirm the memo and to understand what is specifically meant by ‘cyber vulnerabilities," Perry said.

Later, sUAS News posted an update saying that the Army confirmed that the guidance had in fact been issued, and that the service is "currently reviewing the guidance and cannot comment further at this time.”

(Image from file)

FMI: Original Report