The drone threat is no longer confined to distant battlefields. It is coming to American soil, and the targets are no longer necessarily military targets. Critical infrastructure – airports, power plants, and major public events, as well as military bases – are all prime targets for anyone looking to unleash chaos and undermine national security.
To understand how we got here, it is important to understand China’s dominance of the global commercial drone market. Shenzhen-based DJI churns out thousands of drones every day and accounts for 70% of all commercial drones sold globally. This means the very drones purchased and deployed by American institutions, from public utilities to local law enforcement, are built with Chinese-made hardware, firmware, cloud dependencies, and proprietary geofencing logic. This also means Beijing controls how drones navigate, authenticate themselves, and respect sensitive airspaces – a major obstacle to securing American skies.
