The U.S. Senate has finally passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets the U.S. military’s budget for 2025. The ‘Countering CCP Drones Act,’ which would ban DJI drones immediately, is omitted.
The law (PDF, page 1084) called for an analysis of certain unmanned aircraft systems entities, specifically DJI and fellow drone maker Autel Robotics, by “an appropriate national security agency.” If this analysis isn’t done within one year from the law's effective date, the manufacturer’s products and services will automatically be included in the list by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), effectively banning these two companies (and their subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, and even license holders) from the United States.
