Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/29/us-interior-bans-chinese-drone.html
…
2 Likes
Fucking assclown nitwit goons.
3 Likes
And so soon after Xmas … think of the children!
This is BS.
1 Like
The story is one of those “you can read two paragraphs, then hit the wall” things. Is there a list, in the article, of brands that are banned? I believe DJI, one of the most popular (though not cheap) brands, has Chinese origins.
1 Like
Does this mean Department of Interior employees cannot fly the drones, or the public, or both?
Just their drones, not the public’s drones.
The new order, signed by David Bernhardt, the secretary of the interior, says the current fleet of 810 drones will remain grounded “while we ensure that cybersecurity, technology and domestic production concerns are adequately addressed.” The order does not explicitly mention China, but a senior administration official said it was “without question” aimed at drones made or assembled in China.
From: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/technology/interior-chinese-drones.html
2 Likes
Note that this is the drones owned and operated by the Department of the Interior.
They aren’t banning all Chinese built drones from US Airspace… yet.
Bloomberg also has a great article with reaction to the news from DJI.
(As always, this is a huge boondoggle because the USA doesn’t have much domestic chip production capacity left. We can’t make enough chips for government devices, let alone consumer devices. Perhaps a better solution would have been to quietly start secret contracts for chip production facilities here in the USA…)
1 Like
At first I thought this post was created by a random word generator but then realized it was just succinct and accurate.
3 Likes
This all about creating a US manufacturing chain (too bad most 'murican made stuff sucks)…
"The military’s use of waivers and work-arounds comes as the Pentagon seeks to recruit investors into manufacturing American-made small drones to provide an alternative to the Chinese models.
A new Pentagon project dubbed the “Trusted Capital Marketplace” (TCM) involves hosting a series of DOD job fairs in various tech-heavy cities to meet with private capital investors in order to encourage American investment in the defense industry. The first fair is set for October.
Under Secretary Lord told reporters last month that the Pentagon chose small drones as the TCM’s first investment focus because the “entire U.S. marketplace” has been “eroded” by Chinese-made drones.
“DJI dumped so many low-price quadcopters [small drones propelled by four rotary blades] on the markets, and we then became dependent on them, both from the defense point of view and the commercial point of view,” she said.
The Pentagon is hoping a new American drone industry partnership can eventually build something complex enough for the Pentagon but agile enough to be purchased in stores.
“If we meet our defense needs, we feel that there are simpler versions that would be very, very attractive for the commercial market, as well,” Lord said."
2 Likes
Hi kiddies, can you say, “Economic warfare”?
1 Like
While we are not a command economy, I think it would have been a lot better if we would have tried to build up the US manufacturing chain before we pissed off one of our largest trade partners? You know, just saying? 
The problem is… it’s not just jingoistic sabre rattling, there really are tons of problems with our current sourcing of electronic components. There really are cybersecurity and quality control threats there. China is not the United States; the government there does have a much higher degree of control over corporations.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
