The buzz of drones in flight has become a sound known around the world. In the United States, however, it could become rarer. In early January, the US government announced that it was launching a public consultation, which could lead to a ban on the sale of commercial drones or spare parts from China or Russia. This threat does not come from nowhere: the US Department of Commerce estimated that “adversaries” can remotely access these drones, posing multiple security risks.
The consultation does not say it, but the actor who would suffer the most from such a ban is DJI. The drone manufacturer, based in Shenzhen, in southern China, is the undisputed world leader for civilian devices. The BCC Research research group noted that DJI represents 70% of global drone sales, and the MIT Technology Review estimates that the manufacturer is at the origin of 90% of civil machines sold worldwide. Among the few rare competitors still in activity, the French Parrot manages to stand out, but is well behind DJI in terms of sales: in 2021, it represented only 2.5% of global sales.
The “Apple of the drone”
This quasi-monopoly takes place in a growing industry. According to BCC Research, the civil drone market, which represented $30.4 billion in 2023, will double by 2029. Far from being used only by a handful of photography enthusiasts, these aircraft are popular for inspection of buildings, construction sites, forest areas or for securing plots of land and collecting data. The logistics industry is increasingly using drones to ensure rapid deliveries. Film or series directors use it to create aerial shots.
For all these industries, DJI drones are the best. “It’s a bit like the Apple of the drone,” summarizes Stéphane Recoque, general manager of Atlantique Expertises Drones. Easy to fly, equipped with very good quality cameras, solid, and relatively inexpensive compared to their rivals: DJI devices are recognized throughout the world for their technical superiority, and for their unrivaled after-sales service. “As a service provider, I need quality drones for very specific tasks. When you don’t buy from Chinese manufacturers, you don’t find the same excellence at all,” says Stéphane Recoque. The American government itself has equipped itself with numerous Chinese drones: in 2020, almost 90% of the drones used by American firefighters and police departments came from DJI.
This is without mentioning the importance that these civilian drones have acquired on the battlefield since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Used massively by the Russian and Ukrainian armies, drones have become one of the most important weapons in the conflict. The Chinese manufacturer officially stopped the sale of its devices in the two countries in the first months of the war. The ban is, however, not respected: the Ukrainian army announced in May 2024 that it had placed an order for 4,200 DJI Manic drones, the most popular model with soldiers along with the DJI Phantom.
It is this hegemony that poses a problem for DJI today. Drones are in fact equipped with numerous sensors, which constantly transmit their position and other information to pilots, but also to DJI servers. However, in addition to being on the Ukrainian battlefield, they are everywhere in the American skies. “For the American authorities, there is doubt about the security of the data captured by DJI,” explains Stéphane Recoque. “They fear that this data could be captured by the Chinese government, which could use it for intelligence.”
As early as 2017, a memo from the US Department of Homeland Security alerted public decision-makers, explaining that “sensitive data on critical infrastructure, such as detailed images of electricity control panels, security measures for sites of “critical infrastructure or materials used in the construction of bridges” could be collected by DJI drones, and stored on servers that the Chinese government could “most likely” access. “A foreign government with access to this information could easily coordinate physical or computer attacks against critical sites,” he informed. DJI drones are now banned from flying in the United States near military bases and other sensitive locations, such as Washington.
DJI caught in the trade war between China and the United States
DJI has already been criticized in the past for its link with the Chinese authorities: the manufacturer notably signed an agreement in 2017 to equip the police forces in Xinjiang, and is accused of having allowed the tracking and surveillance of the Uighur population . In November 2022, DJI was placed on the list of military companies by the Pentagon for its supposed links with the Chinese army. Contacted by L’Express, DJI did not respond to our email at the time of publication of the article.
Despite warnings, police departments in several American cities continue to use these drones. On January 5, 2025, the city of San Francisco announced that it would deploy DJI Matrice 30T drones. According to the manufacturer, police in Baltimore and Chula Vista are also in possession of Mavic 3 Thermal and Matrice 30 drones.
New measures being considered by the US government could put an end to these uses. “There are real risks of drone bans,” judges Anne Hukkelaas Gaustad, lawyer specializing in American economic sanctions at Hughes Hubbard & Reed. “The American government wants to show its strength on these issues, and this will only become more pronounced with the arrival of the Trump administration.”
For DJI, losing the American market would be a big blow: the United States represented 40% of the manufacturer’s turnover in 2019, its largest market. Without the USA, DJI would be cut off from a large part of its revenues, and China would see another of its technological flagships falter. The ban would go hand in hand with American economic sanctions against Chinese companies, further accentuating the trade war between the two countries. “China has already announced that it is imposing new trade restrictions on around twenty American companies, the day after the announcement concerning drones. There is a risk of retaliation and an escalation effect,” warns Anne Hukkelaas Gaustad. The consultation launched by the US government will end on March 4, 2025, when Donald Trump’s government takes office. It will be the responsibility of the new administration to make a decision based on the results of the vote, but the hostility of much of the new president’s cabinet toward China leaves little doubt about his decision.
For the moment, only the United States is considering a ban. “Europe is very late on these issues, even though it is a very strategic subject. In Norway, not a week goes by without the authorities arresting drone pilots above Oslo” , raises Anne Hukkelaas Gaustad. Since 2022 and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the country has been particularly vigilant regarding espionage attempts carried out by Russia. Seven Russian nationals have already been arrested for espionage after flying drones over sensitive areas, such as airports and oil drilling platforms. “It is a bad idea not to have control over such sensitive technology, which can be used for nefarious purposes and at odds with European Union policies,” she warns. The sound of drones overhead may soon be a distant memory.
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