I am doing a project for school about why we shouldn’t immediately ban DJI drones and wanted to interview people affected as a part of the project. It would be great if some people could answer these interview questions, it would help me tons! Thanks so much!
1: How do you feel the ban would affect emergency services (such as wildfire fighting and fire fighting) overall?
This would absolutely decimate First Responder Fleets. There are no comparable non-Chinese drones available for them.
2: do you think a suitable replacement drone company (servicing both commercial and consumer) will become readily available?
With luck, maybe 5-8 years. We not only lack a well designed or built comparable replacement, even if we had one, we lack the manufacturing capabilities to make them.
3: How do you feel the ban would affect hobbyists and small businesses?
In a recent study by the Drone Advocacy Alliance (
Drone Advocacy Alliance - Home), we found that 67% of all drone businesses would fail if we were forbidden from using Chinese made drones.
4: do you think it is ok for the government to ban DJI drones?
100% no. There is no reason at all.
5: What is your view on a timed ban on DJI drones?
In a recent webinar, Michael Robbins (Co-CEO of AUVSI) said that a transition is not a ban. That is also 100% false. Not only is it a ban at the time when the rule goes into affect, it's basically an immediate ban. Not company of gov't agency (federal, state, or local) will spend 1000s of dollars on a drone program knowing full well that in 2 or 3 years or so they'll have to spend it all over again.
A transition is NOT the answer.
6: Do you think the security threats are serious, and do you think there should even be a ban?
No, they aren't. There is no evidence of any issue. Every single bill and proposed bill is worded to say that the threat is possible, not real. And a country of origin ban wouldn't even address the issue if it did exist. Any drone that is connected to the internet is hackable. And all of these supposed blue drones do connect to the internet.
The only way to truly address this issue is to have the gov't establish a set of true cybersecurity protocols for any drone used in areas with security concerns. And then mandate that those protocols are followed, regardless of where the drone was built. Also, we need to define what actual areas where security concerns exist. Many of these bills are so poorly written, it would prevent drones from flying in our own backyards if we have power lines in them.
The entirety of this mess is predicated on the current anti-China fervor in politics, and spread by unscrupulous US drone manufacturers (specifically Skydio, BRINC, and Teal) who can't compete with DJI or Autel any other way. They buy their way into congressional offices and state houses to spread their lies.
And they have organizations like AUVSI actively pushing their agenda too.
These companies and AUVSI don't care about the U.S. drone industry (especially First Responder Agencies), they only care about their bottom line.
