This is being sold as a security measure, but it's really a heavily-lobbied economic measure to benefit a single American drone company. Skydio, DJI's largest American competitor, can't compete with cheap Chinese drones used for commercial purposes like farming and surveying, so over the last two years they have spent over a million dollars on lobbying efforts to take out their rival. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2022&id=D000086902
Skydio drones are expensive, and the company has deep ties with American, British, and Israeli militaries. They have also completely pulled out of the consumer market, focusing purely on commercial and military drones, so a DJI ban will be a serious blow to drone hobbyists, independent professional pilots, and smaller companies that can't afford to pay thousands of dollars for a drone that they used to be able to get for $400-$1000.
amazing that you only have to spend a million dollars for this result. I guess having the tailwinds of American politicans losing their shit over China helps.
It’s been shocking recently to realize how cheap it actually is to buy off an American politician
Like with the influence AIPAC has, you’d think they’re throwing around tens of millions, even billions of dollars at candidates. But most of the time it’s like, they gave this house member 5 grand and now he’s Israel’s lapdog for life.
Like if I got a few friends together we could scrounge up enough money to buy off a politician apparently. It’s baffling.
Like if I got a few friends together we could scrounge up enough money to buy off a politician apparently.
Mutual aid comm but we just bribe politicians.
Fr. One of my local politicians folded to a slumlord for maybe $1000. Double disrespect.
Does anything beat the guy who uncapped interest rates for the entire credit card industry in exchange for a few IHOPs?
https://www.idler.co.uk/article/adam-curtis-social-media-is-a-scam/
if I got a few friends together we could scrounge up enough money to buy off a politician
It would suddenly be bribery. Fuck you <3
This is being sold as a security measure, but it's really a heavily-lobbied economic measure to benefit a single American drone company.
Aren’t DJI drones used by like, every emergency service in the US with a need for drones?
Yes, and it's been hugely expensive to work around these nonsense restrictions. I'm not exaggerating when I say there's already been years of setbacks in the expansion of ems/fire UAS programs.
Basically everyone who is allowed to use a DJI will use one. They're great drones and far cheaper than anything domestically produced. It's not even a close competition.
you know what'll help America compete in drone warfare, obviously the biggest change in warfare since nukes?
shutting off all hobbyists so your next generation never played with drones as a high schooler
In their opinion it doesn't matter.
Firstly because either the US is going to war with China within the next 8 years or it's not happening because the US would be at such a disadvantage and like all bullies they won't pick a fight with an evenly matched opponent. Secondly because military drone systems used by the US are not really like those used by other countries. For example, Russia and Ukraine are using near off the shelf kit and standing in a field while US drones are controlled from a bunker or command shack or place on a US navy ship from a system that looks like it's from a Dave and Busters racing game with the whole big seat, multiple monitors, joy-stick and additional controls. US is just not interested in that kind of drone warfare. They've gone all in on the idea of semi-autonomous "AI" systems and swarms controlled by 1-2 trained people per swarm from a great distance. Thirdly the US has long had this image of it's military as this highly trained, highly disciplined, elite force while simultaneously seeing Russians/Chinese as "hordes" of under-trained, under-motivated, under-equipped canon fodder so they turn up their nose to certain types of tactics as being for those others.
Fourth, the US is worried about domestic insurrection and discontent over worsening economic conditions. The worse thing you want to do in that situation is empower the ordinary people to wage insurrection using the type of tactics and methods (drones) field-proven by unconventional militias and militant groups across the middle east. These types of drones and easy cheap access to them is also a nightmare for operational security of military bases and internal security forces operations.
Unironically the US wants and is working hard on killbots they can fire and forget for attacks and area denial. They know among other things they can't fight China navy to navy over Taiwan so instead the plan shifts to this idea of naval and aerial drones, semi-autonomous that are basically killbots or self-propelled targeting mines that they'd unleash in the hundreds and thousands in the straits to deny China the ability to send landing craft or support ships near Taiwan and buy them time to hold the island and strike at and destroy China's navy from beyond the horizon. This is actually not a bad answer to the problem of traditional mining that mine-sweeper ships can just clear an area, mine-sweepers don't work if the mines actively hone in on and swarm your clearing ship when you get anywhere near any of them.
The US military is not agile in the way the Russian military or the Ukrainian bandits are. It's a big, expensive, lumbering machine and that's the way they like it and that's the way it's going to be because it produces more profit for Raytheon and because it suits their self-image.
The real losers are local EMS, fire, cops, even the FBI who get hit in the budget much harder acquiring drones now.
High schoolers will just have to learn to be a soldier the true and tested, old American way
These are not the same drones used lol
Ukraine uses them cause they're poor and need to be scrappy
America ain't gonna do this
these 21st century Smoot-Hawley Tariffs are a good idea and I encourage the USA in strangling itself
For those of us who don’t remember high school US history very well:
[Passed in 1930] The Act and tariffs imposed by America's trading partners in retaliation were major factors of the reduction of American exports and imports by 67% during the Great Depression. Economists and economic historians have a consensus view that the passage of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff worsened the effects of the Great Depression.
Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone? Something-d-o-o economics. "Voodoo" economics.
fr the only reason I remember the name smoot hawley tbh, though I think they did come up once in school mayyyybe
DJI, which sells more than half of all drones in the United States, opposes the bill that it said "restricts the ability of U.S. drone operators to buy and use the right equipment for their work, solely on the basis of the equipment's country of origin."
America is stupid
This is almost as dumb as the tariffs on Chinese solar panels and electric cars from earlier in the year.
Infrastructure week stopped working as a distraction, so now they’re doing “china week”
As oft repeated, the US government doesn’t like when its potential spying capacity is muscled in on by others.
too bad i already have a banned DJI drone! come get it before it flies over a mansion and takes pictures!
honestly I'd love to get into drones but I have no desire to register with the FAA or get some shit that's going to get shut down remotely by government fiat in a few months to years, so I guess DIY and under 250g is the spot to start.
edit: ah shit ardupilot looks sick and some diy 250g drones actually have decent runtime it looks like
Only sales is blocked. My drone is already out of support, and works fine without internet. So if this passes it won’t affect me.
from the article:
The bill, which still needs to be approved by the U.S. Senate before it could become law, would prohibit the company's products from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.
clearly targeting the operation of drones that are flown over cellular connections. Short range RF remotes probably wouldn't be affected but I could see smartphone apps getting pulled as well
Conservatives should be pissed off because they won’t be able to stockpile cheap drones to LARP as guerrilla fighters
