Export controls, the Shenzhen supply chain, and the geopolitics of the world’s drone-manufacturing superpower.
While the drone world panics over the FCC’s sweeping ban on foreign drones and components, FPV expert Joshua Bardwell is urging pilots to take a breath. His analysis raises a critical question that most coverage has missed: Does the FCC even have jurisdiction over half the components it listed? In a video published December 23, Bardwell…
Yesterday, I wrote about the FCC’s sweeping ban on all foreign-made drones and critical components. Today, the New York Times published an article that exposes a fundamental problem with the administration’s “American drone dominance” strategy: the batteries don’t exist. The FCC’s National Security Determination explicitly lists “batteries and battery management systems” as covered critical compon
DJI's Head of Global Policy Adam Welsh sat down with YouTuber Faruk from iPhonedo to discuss the December 23 DJI ban. Hard questions ...
China’s high altitude stealth drone known as the CH-7 has officially left the runway and returned in one piece, which in the world of advanced flying wing aircraft is no small achievement and usually a reason for quiet celebrations and strong coffee. Also called the Caihong-7 or Rainbow-7, the large unmanned aircraft completed its maiden…
If there is one thing modern conflicts have made painfully clear, it is that small drones punch far above their weight. Cheap, fast, and everywhere, they have become the airborne equivalent of mosquitoes with cameras, explosives, or both. At NATO’s Bold Machina exercise in the Netherlands this September, a rapidly developed counter drone prototype showed…
Hong Kong just revealed its hand in the global eVTOL race, and it’s not just about air taxis. It’s about who writes the rules. Dominic Chow Wing-hang, Hong Kong’s deputy director general of civil aviation, announced Saturday that passenger-carrying eVTOLs could begin trials within two to three years. But the announcement came at a Belt…
We’re living in a strange paradox: the U.S. is willing to sell China the “brains” that power advanced AI systems (because it pays), while blocking Chinese-made “eyes” like DJI camera drones under the banner of security and human rights. Different agencies, different laws – sure. But if the standard is credible, evidenced risk, it should…
The New York Times Editorial Board just issued one of the most alarming assessments of American military readiness in recent memory, and drones are at the center of it. In a sweeping editorial series titled “Overmatched,” the newspaper warns that cheap, autonomous drone swarms are reshaping warfare faster than the Pentagon can adapt, and that…
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