DJI drone ban set to go in to effect on December 23

[Dan Robinson]

Yeah it's like everything else. Most have this attitude of resignation that they can't change things. Enough of an uproar *can* make a difference (as we saw with the OK bill), but everyone has to have the collective will. So many battles to fight in this field...(sigh).

I'd like someone to ask a lawmaker and the FCC these two questions:

1.) If the audit hasn't happened, how can they know that the drones pose a security risk?

2.) How are drones a bigger security risk than TikTok (who apparently is escaping their ban)?

 

[Warren Faidley]

Yeah it's like everything else. Most have this attitude of resignation that they can't change things. Enough of an uproar *can* make a difference (as we saw with the OK bill), but everyone has to have the collective will. So many battles to fight in this field...(sigh).

I'd like someone to ask a lawmaker and the FCC these two questions:

1.) If the audit hasn't happened, how can they know that the drones pose a security risk?

2.) How are drones a bigger security risk than TikTok (who apparently is escaping their ban)?

A lot of this has to do with politics, e.g., the current administration wanting the US to build drones instead of China. (A kind of tariff). It would not surprise me if politicians are doing some insider trading supporting US companies. I think the US also wants a master switch built into every drone so they can be shut down with the flick of a switch, or so the theory goes.

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

Thanks for the update. I purchased a new DJI Mavic 4-Pro on Sunday and extra parts that should arrive tomorrow. Used DJI drones and parts are about to go through the roof. DJI has already said they will supply updates.

I bought a used Mavic Pro 2 over Black Friday. I wish I had the coin for a brand new Mavic Pro 4 but I don't. Oh well. I'm sure there will be a black market. There's always a black market for everything that gets banned lol.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Yeah I almost bought a 4 pro this week, but I don’t have the budget currently. I think this will probably be resolved within a few months if the community can muster the motivation.

 

[Warren Faidley]

One thing we don't know is if dji is negotiating with a US company to make them here, or maybe some other arrangement the US approves of. The move today might be a motivational step in encouraging such a deal... or maybe not.

 

[Dan Robinson]

If there are truly built-in security risks with the DJI drones as they are, I would think that it wouldn't change anything for them to be manufactured here. The Chinese-sourced parts are also banned, which means *everything* would have to be made here, down to the smallest chip. DJI would have to divest itself from China completely, which is what was *supposed* to happen with TikTok (but mysteriously, now isn't).

The impetus for both bans is that Chinese law requires DJI, Bytedance and any Chinese company to become a state military asset if and when they demand it. Which means the CCP could push a firmware update that could make every US-based drone a wartime intelligence asset. But they can already do that with TikTok - and there are already billions of Tiktok users constantly gathering orders of magnitude more useful intelligence than the relative handful of occasionally-flying DJI drones ever could. Nothing about any of this makes any logical sense.

The issue in the meantime is that there aren't US facilities that can make many of the components. Those *could* be built of course, but it could take years - and the final product will still be 4x the cost (maybe even more).

 

[Dan Robinson]

So, it turns out that the ban only applies to new yet-to-be-released models of DJI drones. Meaning that models like the Mavic 4 Pro will still continue to be produced, imported and legal to buy and sell. From the FCC's official release:

This update to the Covered List does not prohibit the import, sale, or use of any existing device models the FCC previously authorized.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-416839A1.txt

At least for now, that means there will be no immediate crisis if you crash your DJI drone, and there is no urgency to buy a backup right now. You'll still be able to replace it at the same cost as before. What the ban means is that the development of features and capabilities are effectively frozen at the current offerings (at least from DJI or any drone with Chinese components).

(I corrected my previous posts in this thread.)

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

DJI drone ban now in effect in the US: here is the list of DJI drones that can still be legally purchased in the US - Photo Rumors

As previously reported, today the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has implemented a rule adding foreign-made drones and critical components to its “Covered List” due to national security concerns. This effectively prevents the import and sale of new DJI drone models (and those from...

photorumors.com

 

[Warren Faidley]

So, it turns out that the ban only applies to new yet-to-be-released models of DJI drones. Meaning that models like the Mavic 4 Pro will still continue to be produced, imported and legal to buy and sell. From the FCC's official release:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-416839A1.txt

At least for now, that means there will be no immediate crisis if you crash your DJI drone, and there is no urgency to buy a backup right now. You'll still be able to replace it at the same cost as before. What the ban means is that the development of features and capabilities are effectively frozen at the current offerings (at least from DJI or any drone with Chinese components).

(I corrected my previous posts in this thread.)

I would be somewhat careful trusting both the Government and DJI as this all moves forward.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I spent time last night digging into the actual facts behind the so-called “DJI drone ban.” In today’s environment, it’s almost guaranteed that bad actors will twist complex regulatory issues into cheap political narratives.

Some people have falsely stated that Trump's son is planning on building DJI replacement drones in the US by becoming the director of a US drone company. False. "There’s no evidence that Trump Jr. is on the board of companies like Skydio or major defense/industrial UAV firms that are more plausible DJI competitors." His only connection is with a DoD developer that makes military-grade, classified projects.

That statement is false or misleading, depending on how narrowly it’s framed.

As for the timeline, the record is clear and predates the current political noise:

• 2021: DJI is formally designated a “Chinese Military Company” by the U.S. Department of Defense.
• 2023–2024: Congress introduces and advances legislation aimed at blocking new FCC authorizations for DJI products, effectively cutting off future consumer drone sales through regulatory means rather than an outright flight ban.

This wasn’t a sudden move, and it wasn’t created overnight for political theater — it’s the result of a multi-year policy buildup that’s now being selectively misrepresented.

I am so sick of having to dig through the facts to find out if a story is true.