Is It Still Safe To Buy DJI Drones For Solar Surveying?
With the Pentagon and the US Department of Defence (DoD) banning the procurement of DJI drones, there are a lot of concerns among drone users. In the solar world particularly, surveyors who currently use DJI drones are wondering what, if any, implications they might face.
In this article, we’re sorting through the key information about the ban, how it impacts individuals in solar, and what impact it could have on the solar industry at large.
What’s happening: the extent of the DJI ban
The DoD banned government procurement of DJI drones for Pentagon or national security use cases. The ban also extends to DJI as a company, stopping it from procuring US-made materials to build its drones.
The reason given was that the DoD is concerned DJI is too closely aligned with the Chinese military and is creating drones for purposes of war. As a response, DJI said it actively discourages the use of its drones in military use cases, citing its decision to no longer sell drones in Russia or Ukraine amidst the ongoing war.
Are individuals banned from buying DJI drones?
The government did not ban individuals from purchasing DJI drones, nor did it ban the import of DJI drones for retail sale.
Currently, individuals are still allowed to purchase a DJI drone for personal or commercial use cases, including solar surveying. This was not impacted in any way by the new government procurement ban.
What do solar surveyors need to be concerned about?
Broadly speaking, at this point, there is nothing to worry about.
However, two concerns might arise:
That DJI drones might be banned from retail sale in the future as an extension of this government ban.
Existing DJI drone users might have their information stolen, sold to a third party, or used maliciously by DJI.
It’s worth noting that this specific ban on government procurement has a very narrow scope and makes no mention of any future sanctions or actions. These two concerns have arisen organically from individuals asking questions to learn more, not because there’s evidence to suggest it’s happening.
Should a retail ban come into effect, you won’t be able to purchase DJI drones. However, such a ban would not impact current DJI drone owners.
For current owners concerned about their data being used improperly, you have two options. First, you could purchase another brand of drone—Autel also makes drones that work well for solar use cases.
Second, if you don’t want to spend money on a new drone, control the drone without an internet connection. That means either using a device with no connection or using a smart controller but actively not connecting it to the internet (such as putting your smartphone on airplane mode). This isn’t necessary from a regular data privacy perspective, but it would stop all data from moving to any third party.
How does the DJI ban impact the solar industry?
This ban has no specific impact on the solar industry.
While it could stop government organizations from leveraging DJI drones, many government properties have a no-fly zone around the perimeter, meaning those properties would require manual surveys regardless of drone bans.
Even if DJI drones are fully banned in the US—again, there is no evidence to suggest this will happen—this still won’t have a significant impact on the solar industry given the number of drone options available on the market.