US Army To Cease The Use Of DJI Drones

When you think of drones, there’s a good chance that you might think of DJI, and rightfully so considering that the company does make a good many drones for both consumer and commercial purposes. It has also even been used by the US Army, or at least it was because it looks like the US Army has decided to stop using them entirely.

According to a memo obtained by sUAS News (via Engadget), the US Army has issued an order to cease the use of DJI drones effective immediately. Apparently this is due to some security concerns that they have had. The memo reads, “Due to increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products, it is directed that the US Army halt use of all DJI products.”

DJI has since issued a statement of their own in which they will be reaching out to the US Army to confirm the memo, but in the meantime they say, “We are surprised and disappointed to read reports of the U.S. Army’s unprompted restriction on DJI drones as we were not consulted during their decision. We are happy to work directly with any organization, including the U.S. Army, that has concerns about our management of cyber issues.”

While it is unclear about the specifics of these security concerns, sUAS News did publish a report back in May earlier this year about how the data collected by drones is being stored on servers in countries such as China and Hong Kong (along with the US).

Tyler Lee
Categories: Military, Robots
Tags: dji, Drones, Hack, Security