London Orders Chinese DJI Drones Banned in US as ‘Potential National Security Threats’

The British Defense Ministry has placed an order to buy camera drones made by Shenzhen-based Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), a company on the US government’s “entity list” over fears it could pose a threat to US national security.

According to the UK Telegraph, the ministry has ordered £132,337 worth of drones and parts from a reseller, not from DJI itself. The drones are Matrice 300 RTK drones, the company’s flagship model. The drones can go for £10,533 each, meaning the ministry probably bought around 12 of them.

The drones are a workhorse around the globe, used to monitor everything from wildfires to traffic patterns, wildlife, and as London likely intends, battlefield drills. They hover via four rotors, can lift up to 9 kilograms, and stay in the air for nearly an hour, according to the maker’s website.

DJI is the world’s top seller of civilian drones, supplying as much as three-quarters of drones worldwide, according to industry estimates. However, in December 2020, the US Department of Commerce placed the company on its “Entity List,” requiring would-be US business partners to obtain a special license before doing business with DJI. The following June, the US Department of the Interior cleared DJI drones for government use after a lengthy audit, then just weeks later, the Pentagon said they “pose potential threats to national security,” calling the DOI’s decision “unauthorized” and “inaccurate and uncoordinated.”

Following the ban, DJI denied the accusations, saying they “have little to do with security and are instead part of a politically-motivated agenda to reduce market competition and support domestically produced drone technology.”

Washington has said similar things about other rising Chinese tech companies, like phone maker and internet provider Huawei, effectively protecting the US market from competition with Chinese products.

“We take the security of our people and assets very seriously and have robust measures in place that are kept under regular review,” an MOD spokesperson told the Telegraph, which noted that the ministry had previously paused purchases of DJI drones, but never banned them. However, London has bowed to US pressure in the past, such as when they reversed course on Huawei 5G internet service, canceling contracts with the company and pledging to remove all its installed hardware in the country in November 2020.