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 preserve a number of the nation’s most delicate infrastructure. In letters despatched December 18, Senators Maggie Hassan and Gary Peters pressed main U.S. building corporations 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 amenities. Whereas federal companies have lengthy been prohibited from buying or working DJI drones, the Senators’ inquiry alerts a broader enforcement method that treats contractors as a crucial level of leverage.
“The U.S. authorities considers using Chinese language-made drones usually — and DJI drones particularly — a risk to nationwide safety and prohibits their use by federal companies or contractors,” the Senators wrote. “Using a majority of these drones at delicate and safe amenities creates the potential to offer a pathway for the switch of vital 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 Record, govt 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 stress level.
What’s new is the emphasis on contractors themselves. Massive building corporations usually function in depth 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 impression 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 expertise, 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 amenities and ports of entry, was the primary building firm authorised to fly drones over populated areas, and a 2020 interview with an organization govt stays obtainable on DJI’s web site. Brasfield & Gorrie was featured in a DJI case examine highlighting drone knowledge assortment capabilities.
This historical past underscores why lawmakers are involved about legacy use. Drones used for surveying, mapping, and inspection can accumulate extremely detailed imagery and spatial knowledge. Because the letter notes, “detailed details about the design of safe amenities is commonly delicate and could be categorized if it exhibits undisclosed security measures or potential vulnerabilities.”
DJI has constantly disputed claims that its merchandise pose a nationwide safety threat and has pointed to third-party audits supposed to display knowledge 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 embody knowledge switch and storage pathways, firmware and patching dangers that might introduce unknown knowledge assortment options, and network-connected drones that create “the potential for knowledge assortment and transmission of a broader sort – for instance, delicate imagery, surveying knowledge, facility layouts.”
The letter additionally factors to documented instances the place DJI drones have been allegedly used on government-related tasks regardless of current prohibitions. The GSA Workplace of Inspector Common reported cases of DJI drones getting used at ports of entry as not too long ago as 2022 and 2025. Company advertising and marketing and social media posts from contractors have additionally featured DJI drones lately, elevating additional questions on compliance.
Uneven impression throughout the drone trade
Whereas the letters concentrate on giant 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 options don’t but match DJI drones in value, performance, or the maturity of their software program and payload ecosystems.
For big contractors, transitioning away from DJI could also be costly however manageable. Smaller operators, nevertheless, usually lack the capital to interchange fleets shortly and worry being pushed out of government-adjacent work if enforcement accelerates quicker than the provision of aggressive options.
What comes subsequent
The Senators are requesting in depth documentation, together with drone inventories, waivers, cybersecurity insurance policies, knowledge storage practices, and inner audits. The scope of the inquiry suggests heightened oversight not solely of prime contractors but additionally of subcontractors and their drone operations.
By focusing on contractors immediately, lawmakers look 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 crucial infrastructure work or sidelining smaller suppliers, stays an open query for the U.S. drone trade.
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Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, an expert drone providers market, and a fascinated observer of the rising drone trade and the regulatory setting for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles centered on the industrial drone house and is a world speaker and acknowledged determine within the trade. Miriam has a level from the College of Chicago and over 20 years of expertise in excessive tech gross sales and advertising and marketing for brand new applied sciences.
For drone trade consulting or writing, E-mail Miriam.
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