"If this Passes, US Operators Would No Longer Be Able to Access New DJI Drones"

Chinese drone manufacturer DJI took issue with a recent move in Congress, the "Countering CCP Drones Act", introduced by Elise Stefanik.

The legislation would add DJI's parent company, Shenzhen Da-Jiang Innovations Sciences and Technologies, as well as any subsidiary or affiliate to the list of banned brands of communications equipment under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. That would absolutely kneecap DJI's presence in the US market, requiring considerable workarounds to even consider sticking around in the market with DJI-manufactured equipment. Stefanik said that there's a profound national security risk in allowing foreign data collecting systems to operate freely in US comms infrastructure.

Understandably, DJI took serious issue with the prospect of being banned from the market entirely. They said that Stefanik & co. "continue to reference inaccurate and unsubstantiated allegations regarding DJI’s operations, and have amplified xenophobic narratives in a quest to support local drone manufacturers and eliminate market competition."

The firm points out the damage that could be caused by the loss of DJI products from the "broad ecosystem of operators, businesses and public safety agencies that rely on their technologies to conduct safe and efficient operations."

DJI assumes that at the very least their products would be barred from importation going forward, with a possibility that extant DJI equipment already in domestic service would be grounded. They include a few Q&A sections in their response, reiterating their stance that the company is not beholden to any extralegal procedures or governmental demands, that it's not a military company, and that their equipment operates as a vast intelligence collection system unbeknownst to consumers.

FMI: www.viewpoints.dji.com