Amid Australia’s anti-DJI drive, state tech accelerator nurtures domestic drone development

A strain of drone protectionism appears to be spreading in Australia, where a political push to halt use of DJI craft by government agencies has coincided with the creation of a state tech accelerator encouraging the production of national alternatives to imported UAVs.

For the most part, inception of Australia’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) last May follows examples of many other countries that have mandated state agencies or militaries to interface with tech companies, seeking to encourage development and production of emerging, often strategically important technologies. In the case of drones, creation of the ASCA appears intent on boosting an area of uncrewed aerial activity that politicians say domestic startups haven’t sufficiently pursued.

“The fact we don’t have a sovereign UAS capability and rely on other countries, particularly DJI drones from China, makes us vulnerable to supply chain disruptions,” Australia’s Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We seem to be trailing the rest of the world… Australia will never have the biggest army in the world, so this type of unmanned technology is exactly what we need to be investing in.”

Enter the ASCA, which was launched in May with a  $3.2 billion ($2.4 billion) budget – and just as the proponents of Australia’s anti-DJI drive amped up their efforts. Among the ASCA’s objectives with drones is to nurture private sector creation of craft that – from the sound of its mission statement – may qualify for an eventual Aussie variation of US Blue sUAS status for official and defense deployment. 

Read: Red Cat’s Teal 2 drone marks its second on coveted Blue sUAS list

Yet it’s clear from the ASCA’s overview that its drone goals extend beyond defense applications, with its Defence Ministry administrator supporting production of UAVs whose broader capabilities might also replace DJI consumer and enterprise craft in Australia – as well as imports from other nations.

“Defence seeks to support an Australian sovereign UAS and trusted autonomy industrial capability, in particular for small, general purpose systems that can be produced at greater scale, to service a wide range of applications,” reads the ASCA website. “These systems should support flexibility and interoperability through open architecture to enable future development of innovative applications.”

As DroneDJ has reported, several official administrations in Australia – including the Department of Defence, Defence Force, and Border Patrol – have already begun sidelining their DJI drones and renewing fleets with craft considered to pose lower data leaking risks. Those moves come amid a push by local politicians – mirroring the blacklisting movement in the US – targeting the world’s largest commercial UAV maker based on allegations of security threats that, thus far, have not been substantiated in either country.

Given that lack of evidence backing political crusading against DJI in the US – and the accompanying claims its objectives are protectionist in seeking to assist American drone makers – it’s perhaps not unexpected or illogical that Australia and other countries would eventually replicate with similar self-serving measures of their own.

Read: Audit shows far smaller DJI fleet threatened by Australia’s ban effort

Indeed, the creation and function of the ASCA appear to have a dual goals for Australia’s drone sector dovetailing with the political campaign against DJI drones. One of those is an emphasis on encouraging the growth of a strong sub-sector producing home-grown defense UAVs corresponding to something akin to a Blue sUAS category. 

The other – by all appearances – is to provide a state-administered boost to Aussie consumer and enterprise drone startups whose tech may also eventually be adapted to military or security uses of the kind witnessed time and again in Ukraine.

“The widespread adoption of modular, cheap, commercial drones, manufactured at scale for a wide range of versatile purposes, has allowed militaries around the world to rapidly adapt these capabilities for new, asymmetric applications,” the ASCA site notes. “ASCA has released a request for information seeking responses from Australian industry and research institutes in relation to the development of sovereign uncrewed aerial systems and trusted autonomy capabilities.”