Senators Against DJI Ban, UAS Nexus Syndicate, IFT & Ascend’s Partnership, M30T Drone Shot Down

Welcome to your weekly UAS news update. We have four stories for you this week. A bunch of senators are pushing back against a potential DJI ban. UAS Nexus creates a Blue UAS marketplace. We have Inspired Flight and Ascent Engineering expanding their partnership. And lastly, an M30 drone gets shot down in Ohio. Let’s get to it.

Senators Push Back Against DJI Ban

First up this week, the push to ban DJI in the United States is facing some unexpected resistance from within the Republican party itself. According to a report from Politico, a provision to restrict DJI, which was included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, was left out of the Senate version. Now, the two chambers have to figure out a compromise, and it’s not as straightforward as the anti-DJI hawks might have hoped.

Senators from agricultural and energy states are raising some major concerns. Senator John Boozman from Arkansas pointed out, and I quote, “They are the primary drone maker in the United States at a reasonable price. This technology is being used more and more. That is the crux of the problem.”

This all comes down to a critical deadline approaching on December 23rd, which we have talked about at length in the past. Under last year’s NDAA, a federal security agency is supposed to determine if DJI poses a national security risk. But if no agency conducts the audit by the deadline, then the Chinese drone maker DJI is automatically added to the FCC’s covered list, which would ban new products from entering the US market.

The problem is that no agency has stepped up to do anything about the audit. The split here shows a deep divide between the supposed national security concerns and the real-world impact that a drone ban would have on farmers, first responders, energy companies, small service providers, and of course recreational pilots who rely on affordable, capable drones in the United States.

The results of the DJI ban in Florida, which was an absolute disaster where a state-level ban grounded over $200 million worth of public safety drones with no viable replacement ready, showed what happens when things get done without a plan.

This has been a developing story and one we’re going to continue watching closely as the deadline approaches. This is a great time to call your senators and representatives to voice your opinion. The infighting is actually a great opportunity to be loud and voice how a DJI ban would affect your business, your ability to save lives, or anything else you’re using your drone for.

UAS Nexus Launches Blue UAS Marketplace

Next up, a good story. UAS Nexus is launching a new venture to tackle a huge problem in the US: the Blue UAS supply chain. The company just launched what they call the Drone Syndicate Store, a curated marketplace for NDAA and Blue UAS compliant components.

This is a big deal because while everyone is talking about building American drones, finding all the individual compliant parts and components—from motors to radios—is actually a massive headache for manufacturers. UAS Nexus says they want to be the reliable source for OEMs and end users to get the hardware they need quickly. Quickly being the key here.

Alongside this store, they also announced Platform One, a modular FPV platform. It’s designed with a Modular Open Systems Approach, or MOSA for short, which is now required by the Department of Defense (formerly called the Department of War). This means it’s built to work with interchangeable off-the-shelf components so you’re not locked into one specific vendor.

They say the design is inspired by Ukraine’s battlefield success with decentralized FPV production. They also claim this can enable production of over 10,000 drones per month, which is a big deal by US standards.

This is exactly the kind of foundational work the drone industry needs at this point. It’s not just about building a single great drone—it’s about building an entire ecosystem and supply chain to support manufacturing at scale. Congrats to Bobby and the team. Keep up the good work.

Inspired Flight Expands Partnership with Ascent Engineering

Another story about strengthening the American drone ecosystem. Inspired Flight Technology, or IFT for short, is expanding their partnership with software company Ascent Engineering.

IFT is a US manufacturer of NDAA-compliant and Blue UAS-compliant drones, and this partnership is all about beefing up their software capabilities. Ascent Engineering specializes in UAV software and has been working with IFT for two years to get their Inspired Ground Control (IGC) platform off the ground.

IGC is the centralized hub for mission planning, in-flight management, payload integration—basically everything that has to do with the drone. Together, they’ve already pushed several updates to the IGC software, improved their EndRip framework for better connectivity, and added some advanced payload features.

According to IFT, the partnership is going to accelerate their “software-enabled hardware strategy.” This is so important because a drone is obviously much more than hardware. The software that runs it has to be secure, intuitive, and powerful. By focusing on building out the software suite along with the drone itself, IFT is working to create a complete, mission-ready system that is fully made in the United States.

M30T Shot Down in Ohio

Last up, a “don’t be that guy” story. We’ve missed it—it’s been at least two weeks. An M30T was shot down this week in Ohio.

While flying, the pilot experienced what he thought was a flyaway and called the police to notify them that his drone might be found somewhere because it had flown away. Shortly after, the police returned his call and said that someone had reported finding a drone. Suspicious.

The pilot met up with the reporting party who said, “Hey, guess what? I shot the drone. I shot it down.” Which is insane. As you can see from the picture, the shot went straight through the battery of the M30, which is not good.

A sheriff’s report was filed because the pilot had called the police. However, the shooter has agreed to replace the aircraft, and Les, the pilot, has agreed to not press charges as long as the aircraft is replaced.

Even worse, the guy who shot the drone follows Les on Facebook because he’s a local photographer and has a Facebook page for his drone services. In the meantime, Ohio Drone Repair has given Les a loaner so he can use it for his business. Les is also a volunteer who assists local public safety. Keep up the good work, Les, and thank you, Ohio Drone Repair.

Here’s a reminder, as always: don’t be that guy. Please don’t shoot at aircraft. What a dumb thing to do.

Be sure to join us on Postflight, our premium community show where we share our uncensored opinions that are not always suitable for YouTube. This will be a fun one, especially with that first story this week. Have a great weekend. You should be full of turkey by now. We haven’t had ours just yet because we recorded this early, but we’ll see you next time.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​