Chinese DJI Drones Enter US in Disguise!

[ABS News Services/04.09.2024]

The heads of the House Select Committee on China are calling on the Commerce Department to explain what steps and authorities are needed to address the “white label” resale of drones made by Chinese maker DJI by Hong Kong and Texas firms.

More than half of all drones sold in the United States are made by DJI, and they are the most popular drone used by public safety agencies.

Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich) and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill) also wrote Anzu Robotics CEO Randall Warnas to account for the Texas firm's role as a “passthrough company in an attempt to avoid current and anticipated U.S. restrictions on DJI products.”

“Even more disturbingly," the lawmakers contineud, "we found that Anzu’s CEO admitted in a recent interview that the primary purpose of the DJI-Anzu relationship was to circumvent growing US legislative restrictions on DJI products.”

Anzu and Hong Kong- based Cogito sell drones that appear to be DJI products, painted green. According to the Committee, DJI’s partnership with these companies came to light shortly after a congressional committee unanimously voted out legislation that would add DJI (or any subsidiary or affiliate thereof) to the Federal Communications Commission’s Covered List, resulting in new models of DJI drones being prohibited from operating on US communications infrastructure.