US will unleash 'drone dominance' by fast-tracking production

[Dale D]

Remember the EO on drones few week ago?

So I guess we now know the true reason for it.

Gosh this is super embarrassing, slightly unprofessional, and it feels 3rd world-ish to me.

No surprise which "drone" is most visible out front:

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This seems like it was produced by AI- sort of dumb looking and I am all for Pete Hegseth.

 

[anotherlab]

How many patents will need to be violated to come up with anything of equal quality to a DJI or Autel drone? Is there any company in the US that could manufacture a Hasselblad camera for any price? Given the current administration's attitude towards science and education, where will they find the engineers to design and build this technology? Don't hold your breath.

It's not a problem with patents. They can be licensed or even invalidated based on prior art.

US companies know how to make drones. Amazon makes its drones for its Prime Delivery service. We just can't make them at a competitive price level.

 

[anotherlab]

This seems like it was produced by AI- sort of dumb looking and I am all for Pete Hegseth.

"Sort of dumb looking" adequately describes a Fox weekend anchor with a drinking problem who runs the Defense Department (when he's allowed to).

 

[Dave Pitman]

US companies know how to make drones.

While priced is certainly important. I've never seen a demonstration of a US manufactured drone (sUAS) with anywhere near the capability of DJI ... AT ANY PRICE.

 

[Dave Pitman]

"Sort of dumb looking" adequately describes a Fox weekend anchor with a drinking problem who runs the Defense Department (when he's allowed to).

C'mon. In addition to Fox, he's run 2 small non-profits that went belly up. Even his mom couldn't give him a recommendation. Credit where credit is due.

 

[jephoto]

Remember the EO on drones few week ago?

So I guess we now know the true reason for it.

Gosh this is super embarrassing, slightly unprofessional, and it feels 3rd world-ish to me.

No surprise which "drone" is most visible out front:

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Bad Fox News Infomercial…

 

[steamedliver]

Why are you concerned about patents when Chinese companies never do?

Those who are betting against the United States, its not gonna go your way.

Your questioning of the consumer drone market is understandable. However, it is important to remember that the United States had drone pilots based in Maryland flying missions in the Middle East years ago. This technology existed and continued to advance.

Yes, I would like to buy a DJI Mavic 4 or a new Avata. I also can not buy a Toyota hilux either.

 

[AMann]

How many patents will need to be violated to come up with anything of equal quality to a DJI or Autel drone? Is there any company in the US that could manufacture a Hasselblad camera for any price? Given the current administration's attitude towards science and education, where will they find the engineers to design and build this technology? Don't hold your breath.

They can and probably will void those patents with a wave of that magic wand they use in the name of “National InSecurity”.

 

[Vic Moss]

Why are you concerned about patents when Chinese companies never do?

Those who are betting against the United States, its not gonna go your way.

Not sure what you mean here? Who is betting against the U.S.? It's a reality that we can't do this. If we started the process now, we're looking at probably ten years before we can even start to make a dent in the Chinese drone industry.

 

[steamedliver]

Not sure what you mean here? Who is betting against the U.S.? It's a reality that we can't do this. If we started the process now, we're looking at probably ten years before we can even start to make a dent in the Chinese drone industry.

You know exactly what I mean. You also can read the responses in this thread to determine who I am talking about. If you can not figure either one of those out on your own, that is on you.

How do you think it’ll be 10 years? I do not have an estimate, but a decade is laughable.

The Chinese drone sales in the USA is done (for now). Its completely wrecked, no need to make any “dents.” The Chinese will continue to make progress in all kinds of industries, including drones. Also the Chinese (DJI) will continue to sell drones to rest of the world.

Edit. I’d like to get a new DJI drone, but that is not easily feasible. So I won’t and I am looking into assembling my own.

 

[mavic3usa]

However, it is important to remember that the United States had drone pilots based in Maryland flying missions in the Middle East years ago. This technology existed and continued to advance.

SecDef doesn't remember this and doesn't acknowledge this. He said in the past, before he came along, the military sucked at what they did when it came to drones, their hands were tied by POTUS, and basically the drone program was lousy and ineffective and he's going to change it. My concern is if he honestly believes that he is day #1 of the drone program, what makes you think he has the vision to "make it happen" in the future? He'll probably completely ignore everything in the past programs because it wasn't done under his reign. So as long as he is on the throne, the program is in jeopardy and the people are unhappy....for various reasons. For example, it's likely his judgment in extending contracts to suppliers will be misplaced and misguided during the "next" administration leaving us with up to 4 years of questionable activities; probably a bunch of companies just looking to get rich off the taxpayers. Are we even on the ground now in Ukraine learning all we can about drones and drone warfare or are we too good for that and prefer our own home-grown strategies.

This isn't just the drones, it's everything military. The F47 and the Golden Dome are a colossal waste of time and money and it's a distraction. I have zero expectation on their system effectiveness based on the expected delivery schedules and the drone programs won't be any different.

Leadership matters. This country has always benefited from "civilian" control over the military but those lines have been blurred lately and I'm not confident this experiment will turn out well for America considering how it works for other country who's central government uses the military as a police force and as a tool or weapon among other things. There's a reason for the distinct separation. SecDef is acting like a 5-star general of the Army instead of a civilian leader.

 

[Vic Moss]

You know exactly what I mean. You also can read the responses in this thread to determine who I am talking about. If you can not figure either one of those out on your own, that is on you.

How do you think it’ll be 10 years? I do not have an estimate, but a decade is laughable.

The Chinese drone sales in the USA is done (for now). Its completely wrecked, no need to make any “dents.” The Chinese will continue to make progress in all kinds of industries, including drones. Also the Chinese (DJI) will continue to sell drones to rest of the world.

Edit. I’d like to get a new DJI drone, but that is not easily feasible. So I won’t and I am looking into assembling my own.

A) If I knew what you meant, I wouldn't ask. And I don't appreciate the hostility. I'm not betting against the U.S., I'm a realist. I follow this entire situation almost daily. I speak with people in D.C. weekly about it. Some days I'm cautiously optimistic, and some days I'm just hopeful. Some days it changes two or three times, depending on who I talk to in D.C. Whether via email, zoom, or even in person.

B) It's going to be at least 10 years because I know what I'm talking about. I understand the situation better than the vast majority of people in this industry. I know what it takes to develop a DJI comparable drone, and how long it would take to spool up manufacturing to match the 100's of 1000s of drones we need in this country every year. And there is not a single U.S. or Ally based drone manufacturer even interested in the prosumer or consumer market. So we'd be starting from scratch.

We don't have the engineers in this country to do this. DJI employees approximately 3500 engineers alone. And no one is quite sure how many software engineers they employ, but with a workforce estimated at 14,000 people, it will be a large number.

Let's talk about something as simply as raw materials, specifically lithium. We have very large deposits of lithium in this country (Louisiana, Arkansas, Nevada). But how long do you think it will take to get EPA approval, then the mining has to spool up. No, 10 years minimum.

C) The Chinese drones sales are definitely not "done". At all. How often do you talk to DJI leadership about this? I have 5 times today alone. How deeply do you understand what it going on behind the scenes? And yes, if we do eventually have a ban (very unlikely at this point), DJI and others will not stop making drones. If that happens, the U.S. will continue to fall behind the rest of the world when it comes to UAS usage. And that's part of the issue no one in D.C. wants to talk about.

So no, I still don't know what you mean by betting against the U.S. You sound like Michael Robbins.

 

[Starz]

the United States had drone pilots based in Maryland flying missions in the Middle East years ago

Clarification please. Are you referring to the same type of consumer drones produced by DJI or would that be fixed wing style(not powered by four tiny electric motors)surveillance/defensive aircraft?
I do remember back in the early eighties when some uniformed guys from the base in Sierra Vista attended an RC airplane competition in southeast Tucson. They proceeded to offer one of the local pilots a job training some of their counterparts in the remote control field. He was seventeen at the time so they were going to house him off base until he was of legal age. This individual had been flying RC for over ten years and could fly just by listening to what noise the aircraft was making.
Based on what I was told, his mission was to teach people how to remote pilot aircraft(of some kind) from a very remote box with no windows. I don’t remember hearing anything about him dealing with shoebox size four bladed drones.

 

[tstr14]

Well, Pete, if it's so easy to quickly create a domestic American drone industry and supply the entire US market, why not do the same thing for all consumer electronics, major appliances, automobiles, shoes, red baseball caps, and clothing, too?

Because a certain high ranking member's son doesn't sit on their advisory board like he does with Unusual Machines.

 

[ericole]

Economics 101: Talk is cheap because, as regards the utterances of Sec'y Hegseth, supply exceeds demand.

supply exceeds demand? are you saying the US is producing more drones than people want?

 

[ericole]

I would like to see more than just talk.

GoPro, an American company, once dominated the action cam market. DJI has outpaced them by putting out a superior action cam product with actual innovation. GoPro’s stock is now peanuts on the dollar. In the U.S., your can of soda out of the vending machine is more expensive than a share of GoPro stock…

well, most likely the Chinese stole the IP of GoPro and told their people to produce more better and flood the market. That's typically what happens. It is never a level playing field. If you think otherwise, you just aren't aware of how things operate in China.

 

[ericole]

The U.S. will never have "drone dominance", just like we'll never have dominance for any product that requires this level of manufacturing. We have been offshoring manufacturing (along with R&D and tech support) since the 1970s. Are we supposed to wave some magic wand and make it all come back? We don't have access to raw materials (even though we have MASSIVE lithium deposits) , nor do we have the manufacturing capabilities to produce the 100's of 1000s of new drones every year that we'll need to supply both the commercial and recreational side of the industry.

It's a pipe dream made up and supplied by the anti-China crowd, and pushed politically by U.S. manufacturers that can't compete with DJI and Autel.

You are right, we don't CURRENTLY have this capability. But it sounds like you would rather not invest in US manufacturing and continue to let our largest and most dangerous adversary be dominant in that area. Is that correct?

 

[ericole]

It's more than just "anti China". They are intellectually deficient. From the headlines; thinking injecting bleach might stop a viral infection (It won't, but it will stop you from living). And, the bright idea of having nursing home residents replace the deported agricultural work force. Just to name a couple great ideas.

Please.. NO ONE ever said to inject bleach. No, Trump didn’t tell Americans infected with the coronavirus to drink bleach

 

[ericole]

Skip the YouTube videos and just read the executive order, "Unleashing American Drone Dominance", at Unleashing American Drone Dominance
It's in plain English and easy to read.

Jumping to the parts about making drones in the US....

That looks like a direct shot at DJI

And in 8(c)


Lots of Good Sounding Stuff™ for sound bites, but nothing that would make it cost-competitive to manufacture drones in the US.

They can make it easy to provide financing, but it doesn't address the core issues.

• All of the parts are made in Southeast Asia. Most, if not all, in China
• The supply chain is much shorter for most parts, usually in the same city
• The labor is much cheaper
• Labor safety laws in China are not enforced

Your last bullet ... yet people on this forum seem to be A-OK with getting their "inexpensive" yet "very good" electronics from a country that could care less about its people or their safety. Same thing with Apple products, etc. We can just throw our hands up and say "it's too late" or we can support what this administration is trying to do to restart (or even start) manufacturing for these very important electronic things in the US - or at least help grow them in other countries that aren't are largest most dangerous enemy.

 

[ericole]

The man who lives in that big white house on the hill nearby believes that tariffs are that magic wand. But that wand is looking more and more like nothing but a broken stick.

Tariffs and the U.S. Economy: How They Strengthen America

How do tariffs impact the U.S. economy? Learn how they boost jobs, strengthen national security, and reduce foreign dependence. 🇺🇸 Read more!

archkennedy.com