It’s been a long time coming, and it finally hit on Tuesday, with the U.S. banning new models of Chinese-made drones effective immediately.
The market reality is that DJI, the top-selling drone maker worldwide, won’t be bringing any new products into the U.S., raising the question of what happens to existing DJI drones that may not be able to get replacement parts—or even firmware updates.
Don’t panic quite yet. Existing drones have not been banned. If you use your drone for work or recreational flying, your drone will not stop working. However, the federal order means new drone models can’t be imported legally.
New drone components can’t legally enter the U.S. supply chain, and future products from the affected companies (mainly DJI and Autel) won’t be coming into the U.S.
Again, if you already have a drone, nothing has changed for you. Your drones were already approved by the FCC, and at this point, there is no retroactive ban in effect.
This issue was first discussed during the Biden administration, perhaps after the Chinese balloon drifted across the country in early 2023 and was shot down on February 4, 2023.
There was a growing fear that Chinese technology, which was becoming very popular, could be used to spy on Americans.
DJI and other manufacturers said these claims were untrue and offered to let their communications equipment and firmware be examined, but no federal agency wanted the job. Time ran out, and here we are.
DJI stated:
Concerns about DJI’s data security have not been grounded in evidence and instead reflect protectionism.
For photographers, this is particularly bad news. Many photographers use drones all the time in real estate, mapping, social media, and professional films, and DJI drones are often the first choice—even among law enforcement—for search and rescue and other operations.
Again, the drones you have will continue to fly, but parts and software and firmware updates appear to be restricted going forward.
Current DJI and Autel drones in retail channels can still be sold, but new models won’t arrive in the U.S.
Almost certainly, a black market for drones and parts will start to take shape—and where it goes from there, no one knows.
And current DJI and Autel drones may see their prices soar. U.S.-built drones, which the government wants to encourage, are not really available. Skydio dropped out of the consumer market in 2023, as did Sony.
This will be a continuing story, and we’ll keep an eye on its twists and turns. But if you use drones for business or pleasure, it’s a sad day, with repercussions that aren’t even obvious yet.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, or professional advice. Drone laws, regulations, and enforcement policies may change without notice and can vary by jurisdiction. Readers should consult the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and qualified legal counsel for the most current and applicable guidance. The author and publisher make no representations regarding the accuracy, completeness, or future applicability of the information presented and disclaim any liability arising from reliance on this content.
14 Comments
I think this really has more to do with the longterm goal of more manufacturing here in the US, and is not really 100% about security.
BUT, as members of the economy, what we really want is to have lots of great paying manufacturing jobs here in the US, but also to have super cheap prices like we have when foreign nations make things and we import them with no tariffs. Why the hell can't we have it all? Sick and tired of settling for compromises with these kinds of things.
If that's really the goal, well, it's dead on arrival. DJI will never build drones here for the same reason Nikon, Canon, and Sony will never build cameras or lenses here. This is another arbitrary and baseless decision by the worst administration in US history
You are completely misunderstanding me. I have no illusions about any foreign-based manufacturers shifting their operations to the United States. What an asinine idea that is, because, as you say, it would simply not happen, nor should it happen.
What I was saying, what I meant, is that I think that the longterm goal is to cut foreign manufacturers off from the U.S. market, in hopes that someday in the future U.S. based corporations will begin to manufacture these items here.
If we really push these policies and enforce them vigorously for decades, then it is possible that eventually, like 15 to 20 years from now, there may be a U.S. corporation that steps in to fill the void. I mean if there is a big demand for drones and we don't let our citizens have drones that are made anywhere else in the world, then eventually - like decades from now - it does seem logical that if the demand really is there, that a U.S. company may start to make drones here.
Merry Christmas!
David Manzi wrote:
"This is another arbitrary and baseless decision by the worst administration in US history"
You do realize that the Biden administration is the administration that enacted this ban, don't you? If not, I suggest you watch Ton Northrup's video on this topic, in which he explains the timeline of the legislation that the Biden administration introduced, which is the same legislation that is now coming to fruition. The current administration had absolutely nothing to do with this ban, as it was already prescribed by the former administration's legislation.
So, given that, I agree with the part of your comment that I quoted.
Merry Christmas!
PS: It is not inconsistent for me to suggest that David watch a YouTUbe video to get an explanation about something. Yes, I ripped Alex for telling us to do the same. But the difference is that Fstoppers is making money from this platform, and I am just here as someone who gains nothing tangible from this website. If I worked for Fstoppers and received an income from this site, then I would do the hard tedious work and write out the explanation (legislation timeline) myself.
If you imagine the current administration is exercising any real forward looking rationale in its various pronouncements such as this one then I fear you are in for a huge disappointment. History, always a good place to start, tells us that protectionism only leads to uncompetitive industries, poor quality products, and ultimately higher prices. Industries maintained by political protection generally don’t do well.
While there are indeed a number of drone manufacturers in the USA such as Skydio, AeroVironment and Zipline none of them have expertise in the domestic photography sector where DJI globally dominates with a market share in some areas approaching 90% . Governments who try to artificially rig markets invariably fail. Now I know little about drones but someone expecting a company such as AeroVironment to pick up the DJI slack in the consumer drone market when their own experience is firmly with small tactical and military drones are in for disappointment. Take Sony for example who have great experience both in photography and manufacturing, ask yourself why they abandoned the drone market?
"If you imagine the current administration is exercising any real forward looking rationale in its various pronouncements such as this one then I fear you are in for a huge disappointment."
The current administration? They have nothing to do with this. Literally nothing. The previous administration is the one which put all of this Chinese drone ban stuff into action, and set the dates as to when each phase of the ban would be implemented.
Quick, send in the clowns
Don't bothеr, they're herе.
Ok Chinese drones are banned but at least you can still buy Italian tactical shotguns!
Guns don't kill people, drones do. OK, not really.
Really?
What the FAA and US government are doing is beyond ridiculous for actual businesses.
As someone with both an Aeronautical Engineering degree and a full-time photography business, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in on this topic in a non-political manner. Unregulated or underregulated usage of drones (even small under 249g ones) presents a risk to personal privacy, national security, and public safety. Some limitations to the availability of drones to the general public is not necessarily a bad thing. The only reason this hasn't happened sooner is that someone hasn't had the idea of strapping a pipe bomb to a drone and flying it somewhere that normally would be difficult to access.
I have done enough work in manufacturing with Chinese companies to be apprehensive of their stated protections. ESPECIALLY now, being limited in the US market. While they may have not been collecting sensitive data on various locations in the US previously - you can be sure that they have no motivation to NOT use any and all information they have available to them right now from the existing drones.
From an American manufacturing standpoint - assuming that you are still able to use some off the shelf parts from Chinese manufacturers for video transmission, cameras, and a control system - creating a viable "American made/assembled" drone wouldn't be completely cost prohibitive. Maybe 3-5X more expensive - which for people that use them to make money and not just "fly around" for fun doesn't put them out of the range of feasibility. Almost all "micro" scale flying vehicles (under a 10 foot max dimension) are so greatly overpowered (or have the ability to be) that the actual flying dynamics aren't that critical.
Thanks for your insight. Just a thought: Would making the drone software open source solve the security issue? Is there any reason a DJI drone would have to communicate with DJI servers?
It sounds to me like the issue boils down to software. I wonder if DJI would be willing to share source code if it meant they still got to sell to the consumer market in the US.
I don't think that DJI or any other drone manufacturer would be willing to make the software open source - it would create a lot more issues.
First, part of the reason that DJI drones are the industry standard is THAT software. Their stability control, object avoidance, and low latency video transmission is what makes them so good to use for a normal "non-pilot" user. Without that software advantage, most drones would operate like those FPV drones that require skill from the user to actually fly them.
Secondly, making it open source - while providing transparency - also provides access and information to those who might be interested in doing "bad actions" - ie remote hacking or modification of the software to remove limitations of where it could be flown. By their nature, a drone must communicate wirelessly with some sort of control interface and it wouldn't be that difficult for someone to find a weakness in their software to gain control of someone else's drone.
To my knowledge, their software was shared with the US government when there was the previous question about them "calling home" to China several years ago. I believe that they moved to a US based server instead of one in China because of this - but that doesn't mean that they don't have access to the information on that server. I'm sure their TOS lets them view data, images/video, etc. of any user for quality control or updates. But to answer your question specifically, they would most likely need to connect to their servers to ensure that no one had modified their software for illegal/non-intended use and also for any sort of updates to areas that they are not allowed to fly in. There is a tremendous liability risk for any drone manufacturer (or user), and I would imagine that they do everything they can to make sure it appears that they are trying to prevent any unintended use.
The following statement may be interpreted as politically biased - but this information must be stated. Unusual Machines, a US based drone manufacturer received a $620 million government contract last fall and Don Jr. is on their board of directors. So it is possible that this decision may have been financially and politically motivated more than purely out of public safety or national security.
In my opinion, there are solutions (similar to what you proposed) that would allow them to maintain their US sales presence, while still ensuring that they're not collecting or using information that they shouldn't be, and one or more of the following is happening: they're unwilling to make changes to their software/operation, the regulators/those making these determinations are not well-versed on the technical operations of drones, they are specifically being targeted based on being an industry leader and being based in China, or the "big brother" conspiracy theory option that the government wanted access to consumer drone data for various reasons and they said no.
My "gut feeling" is that this decision is only temporary and that they will be allowed to sell consumer options in the US in the future.