U.S. lawmakers are increasing their efforts to restrict using Chinese language-manufactured drones, shifting focus from federal companies and spectrum entry to the contractors that construct and keep a few of the nation’s most delicate infrastructure. In letters despatched December 18, Senators Maggie Hassan and Gary Peters pressed main U.S. building companies about their relationships with DJI and their continued use of Chinese language-made drones on government-related tasks.
The letters have been despatched to Hensel Phelps, Brasfield & Gorrie, and the Bechtel Company, all of which carry out work at homeland safety, protection, nuclear, and border safety services. Whereas federal companies have lengthy been prohibited from buying or working DJI drones, the Senators’ inquiry indicators a broader enforcement method that treats contractors as a important level of leverage.
“The U.S. authorities considers using Chinese language-made drones typically — and DJI drones particularly — a risk to nationwide safety and prohibits their use by federal companies or contractors,” the Senators wrote. “Using most of these drones at delicate and safe services creates the potential to supply a pathway for the switch of essential nationwide security-related data to the Chinese language authorities.”
From company bans to contractor accountability
Congressional efforts to limit Chinese language drones have steadily intensified over the previous a number of years. Actions have included a 2019 prohibition on Division of Protection purchases, DJI’s placement on the Commerce Division’s Entity Listing, government department steerage discouraging company use of foreign-adversary drones, and statutory restrictions tied to authorities contracts. Extra not too long ago, the FY25 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act goals to restrict DJI’s entry to FCC bandwidth, including one other strain level.
What’s new is the emphasis on contractors themselves. Massive building companies typically function intensive drone fleets throughout a number of tasks and companies, making them influential patrons and standard-setters. Limiting DJI use by contractors might have a broader market influence than agency-only bans, particularly the place contractors deploy drones on behalf of a number of federal clients.
DJI’s deep roots in building operations
The Senators’ letters element how deeply DJI drones have been embedded in U.S. building workflows. Massive contractors have been among the many earliest adopters of drone know-how, a market DJI has lengthy dominated. Bechtel, which has constructed nuclear weapons laboratories and missile bases, established a drone program early and co-hosted a DJI webinar in 2017. Hensel Phelps, a contractor at nuclear services and ports of entry, was the primary building firm accredited to fly drones over populated areas, and a 2020 interview with an organization government stays out there on DJI’s web site. Brasfield & Gorrie was featured in a DJI case research highlighting drone information assortment capabilities.
This historical past underscores why lawmakers are involved about legacy use. Drones used for surveying, mapping, and inspection can gather extremely detailed imagery and spatial information. Because the letter notes, “detailed details about the design of safe services is commonly delicate and will be labeled if it reveals undisclosed safety features or potential vulnerabilities.”
DJI has constantly disputed claims that its merchandise pose a nationwide safety danger and has pointed to third-party audits meant to show information safety. Nonetheless, U.S. authorities companies have continued to warn about potential dangers tied to Chinese language-manufactured drones.
CISA, FBI, and documented compliance issues
The Senators cite a January 2024 joint bulletin from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company and the FBI outlining three key vulnerabilities related to Chinese language-made drones. These embrace information switch and storage pathways, firmware and patching dangers that might introduce unknown information assortment options, and network-connected drones that create “the potential for information assortment and transmission of a broader kind – for instance, delicate imagery, surveying information, facility layouts.”
The letter additionally factors to documented circumstances the place DJI drones have been allegedly used on government-related tasks regardless of present prohibitions. The GSA Workplace of Inspector Basic reported situations of DJI drones getting used at ports of entry as not too long ago as 2022 and 2025. Company advertising and social media posts from contractors have additionally featured DJI drones in recent times, elevating additional questions on compliance.
Uneven influence throughout the drone business
Whereas the letters deal with massive contractors, the broader implications prolong to the industrial drone ecosystem. Smaller drone service suppliers have lengthy expressed concern that sustaining an NDAA-compliant fleet is dear and tough. Many argue that U.S.-manufactured alternate options don’t but match DJI drones in value, performance, or the maturity of their software program and payload ecosystems.
For giant contractors, transitioning away from DJI could also be costly however manageable. Smaller operators, nevertheless, typically lack the capital to switch fleets shortly and concern being pushed out of government-adjacent work if enforcement accelerates sooner than the supply of aggressive alternate options.
What comes subsequent
The Senators are requesting intensive documentation, together with drone inventories, waivers, cybersecurity insurance policies, information storage practices, and inner audits. The scope of the inquiry suggests heightened oversight not solely of prime contractors but in addition of subcontractors and their drone operations.
By concentrating on contractors instantly, lawmakers seem like testing a extra forceful method to limiting DJI’s presence in delicate environments. Whether or not the market can adapt shortly sufficient, with out disrupting important infrastructure work or sidelining smaller suppliers, stays an open query for the U.S. drone business.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, knowledgeable drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone business and the regulatory atmosphere for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the industrial drone area and is a global speaker and acknowledged determine within the business. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising for brand new applied sciences.
For drone business consulting or writing, E mail Miriam.
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