DJI has issued a sharp response to last week’s US court ruling that keeps the company on the Pentagon’s blacklist of “Chinese military companies.” While the world’s largest drone maker is disappointed by the decision, it emphasizes that the court has actually validated its long-standing claim: DJI is not controlled by China’s government, nor is it tied to the military.
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A US federal judge has just delivered a big blow to DJI, ruling that the world’s top drone maker will remain on the Pentagon’s blacklist of companies tied to China’s military.
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A couple of fairly clear elements have arisen about the Pentagon’s otherwise secretive future UAV plans. The first is it intends to initially invest $1 billion in its expendable swarm program known as Replicator, with the second being participating drone makers had better be in permanent revision mode to be to produce continuously upgraded craft.
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Drone companies with working ties to the US Department of Defense should find out by mid-December if their craft are among those selected for the first developmental tranche of the Pentagon’s Replicator program, which looks to match the enormous weapons systems of countries like China and Russia with the power-in-numbers might of swarms of smaller UAVs.
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Producers of specialized drones or craft with effective tech adaptable to defense purposes may be in for a boost in activity under the Pentagon’s new “Replicator” initiative, which seeks to supplement the traditionally huge, multi-year US defense programs by creating an array of fast, responsive “attritable autonomous systems” – with an anticipated emphasis on quickly manufactured UAVs.
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Colorado-based anti-drone tech specialist Liteye has won a $12.1 million contract from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to provide an array of platforms enabling multi-domain air and ground security missions both domestically and abroad.
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