Democratic and Republican members of the House and Senate have issued a letter to Lloyd Austin III, Secretary of Defense to halt U.S. companies from Exporting critical technology to Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), a People’s Republic of China drone company. The letter points out that the DJI drones contain critical components from American companies and that DJI was put on the “Security entity List” in 2020 and that the drones are used to carry out attacks on America’s closest allies. In addition, DJI drones have been exported to America’s adversaries for military purposes in violation of export laws and sanctions. Most recently, Hamas used DJI drones to disable Israeli surveillance and drop munitions on Israeli forces on the Gaza border. The letter also states that DJI is illegally equipping Russia with drones that are being used against Ukraine.
The letter says that given DJI’s placement on the Entity list,, American companies cannot export their technology to DJI unless they receive an export license from the U.S. Government. Credible reports have found American products inside the drones including U.S. based company CEVA. The letter requests information regarding approval for export licenses for any U.S. companies to allow for export of U.S. technology or Intellectual property to DJI. A response before January 15 was requested. Here is a copy of the letter: https://files.constantcontact.com/81b76c35801/a3b95eef-07c8-4680-b487-ba4f710b302c.pdf?rdr=true. They also requested that DoD’s aviation, electronics and unmanned aerial vehicle technical experts and engineers who reviewed the transfer requests to DJI provide a briefing to Members of Congress and their staff to explain their national security review process and final recommendations.
DJI is the world’s biggest drone manufacturer with 70 percent of global market share, according to Drone Industry Insights. DJI is a Chinese technology headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, backed by several state owned entities. DJI manufactures commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for aerial photography and videography.
In August, Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, warned that: “Numerous [Chinese]-made drones have been detected in restricted U.S. airspace, including over Washington, D.C., despite DJI’s claim that their drone design includes geofencing restrictions to avoid sensitive locations. Drones made by Autel Robotics, another prominent manufacturer, do not even have geofence restrictions.”
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers under the SEC, CFTC and FINCEN whistleblower programs. Whistleblowers who provide original information to these agencies through counsel, may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC, CFTC OR FINCEN and the names and identification of the whistleblowers are not revealed. Jeff Newman can be reached at Jeff@Jeffnewmanlaw.com or at 617-823-3217
