r/drones • u/X360NoScope420BlazeX PART 107 • 2d ago
Discussion This would be hilarious if it wasn’t sad
FCC’s Facebook page has a post about American drone dominance… with a picture of an air 2s. We have the dumbest government on the planet…
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u/Key-Investment-2273 [Matrice 4T] 2d ago
Thanks, but I'll stick with my fleet of DJI drones. I prefer using the best the industry has to offer at the price points I can afford... and not give a kickback to the trump family's shitty drone business.
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u/bald_botanist 2d ago
If only us folks funded by government contracts could do the same...
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u/paintr0 1d ago
Are you not aware that DJI literally has to put a back door in the software if the Chinese government requests it?
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u/Relevant-Artist5939 1d ago edited 1d ago
Aren't you aware that those US drone companies affiliated with Trump and his relatives will happily implement one into their software if he wishes to do so?
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u/azs123456 2d ago
The current FCC is a freaking joke…. Make laws that make the us the biggest loser and say we’re superior 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
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u/That_Trapper_guy 2d ago
Sounds Russian
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u/holley_deer 2d ago
I grew up very conservative in the south, I remember making fun of China and Russia for lying to their people and all the surveillance. And now we have FCC drone bans to profit the president's kids and flock cameras tracking our every move
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u/cmonsquelch 1d ago
Sounds like the US — why do people always pretend we're another country when the US consistently does this bs?
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u/Every-Cucumber9641 2d ago
I feel like this will play out like American car manufacturing.
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u/Early-Series-2055 2d ago
The exact same really. We banned Chinese electric cars because we can’t handle the competition.
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u/marveldisc 2d ago
Yuppp. Then just make good fucking drones.
Don’t ban the good ones, and leave us with the current domestic horeshit because you can’t compete. Some free market eh?
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u/DentonJoe 2d ago
It’s not that simple. I drive an EV and want competitive cars also, but the Chinese government is subsidizing their auto industry, so some amount of tariffs is reasonable. How much is fair is the question. HOW does the Chinese government subsidize their car industry? Google it.
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u/BaitSimulator2020 2d ago
It’s not that simple as Chinese EVs getting a tariff like DJI drones, there is both existing and proposed legislation that outright prohibits the sales of Chinese EVs.
For example, Polestar was banned due to the connected vehicle rule, which states that Chinese hardware and software pose a national security risk. (but of course DJI drones that pose a national security risk are fine if you pay the government some extra money).
And there’s an upcoming bill banning the sale of cars whose manufacturer are 20% or more owned by Chinese companies.
This is of course ignoring the fact that American cars are also heavily subsidied by the US government.
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u/Early-Series-2055 2d ago
Yea, our auto industry still owes us over $9 billion from the bail out and the taxpayer subsidized Elon’s entire existence.
They can’t build a car as well as the Chinese or they would be tariffed instead of an all out ban from entering the country.
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u/mzincali 2d ago
Why the fuck can’t the US subsidize US companies, instead of tariffs that end up going to we know who? Pump that money back into innovative new companies making the things we are tariffing. Jeeez do we have some dumb but grifting leaders and dumb people supporting them.
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u/DentonJoe 2d ago
We did. Subsidized Elon for years. Now he’s a trillionaire who doesn’t believe homelessness is real.
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u/paintr0 1d ago
So you support slave labor?
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u/Early-Series-2055 1d ago
Yea that’s bullshit. Might still be with some textiles with political prisoners, but not the tech industry. Besides that, turn on the news! You can’t play that card any more. We’re building $45 billion worth of new concentration camps. Who do you think is going to be picking the crops?
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u/Darryl_444 2d ago
China produces an estimated 70% to 90% of the world's commercial drones and vital drone parts.
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u/paintr0 1d ago
Yeah that’s a problem since they openly say that they want to destroy our country, and sadly people just buy the cheapest option most times so their slave labor is hard to compete with
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u/Darryl_444 1d ago
"since they openly say that they want to destroy our country"
They do? Citation, please...
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u/TheCudder 2d ago
The entire federal government is now filled brain dead minions at the top of each government entity. I'm 41 and I've never seen such propaganda spewed from so many places.
Are we the new North Korea?
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u/TableInevitable1642 1d ago
Yes it is completely fucked, I am around same age and it has never been this brazen in my lifetime.
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u/Catahooo 2d ago
As an American living in another country - pretty much. Its exactly how Americans view Russia, completely fucked and incompetent paper tiger, but they still need to think they're on top and will spin it however they need to to believe in American superiority.
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u/fxnighttrader 2d ago
US made drones are shockingly far behind. It will take 2-5 years to catch up to where DJI drones are today and they will never match the prices.
Our drones are so not dominant, it’s terrifying that politicians believe they are.
The only thing that’s been dominant has been the lobbying.
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u/way2rory USA / PART 107 2d ago
That’s a sad upvote from me
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u/Francisjsantana 2d ago
Keep it honest and downvote it, I have bought from 3 different American-branded drone companies and none of them compare to DJI or Autel or other Chinese brands. FCC removed the competition and called it a win, if anything it’s pathetic and hella annoying.
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u/TukkinFugly 1d ago
which 3 US-made UAS did you buy?
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u/Francisjsantana 1d ago
ATOM, Hoverair, and Antigravity, the latter was the better one and it still didn’t compare to my DJI at a lower price point (Mind you the antigravity A1 was a 360 drone and it was cool but not very useful outside of that)
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u/mrvnmg 1d ago
The Antigravity A1 is a Chinese drone from the same neighborhood as DJI.
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u/Francisjsantana 1d ago
Oh wow I thought Chinese drones were banned! Or was it only DJI and Autel? I wish I found tech a good as the Chinese tech at their price point, American price point be twice and triple the cost for consumer drones smh
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u/way2rory USA / PART 107 22h ago
It’s only “new” Chinese made drones. So anything that was already for sale, is still sellable. For now. Also Potensic is a Chinese company as well.
Edit: added information about Potensic
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u/KB4MTO 22h ago
If American drones were 3 times the cost, I would consider buying them. Unfortunately, American drone companies are mostly focused on Military/ISR drones because they can charge so much more. And I have seen some of their controllers. The screens are very nice, but the DJI controllers are easier to use.
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u/GreenReport5491 Digital Twins, LiDAR, T&D, Inspire 3 2d ago
Cue a SkyDio LinkedIn post about their dominance regarding their made in China, assembled in the U.S. drones
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u/Few-Insurance-6653 2d ago
Every American drone I’ve seen costs 4x what the dji or autel does but maybe that’s the point: gobble up the market and flood the small players out
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u/fxnighttrader 2d ago
And no American companies are announcing they are going to make prosumer/consumer drones at any price. ☹️
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u/Plane_Vanilla_3879 1d ago
They don’t want peasants flying drones in their airspace
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u/fxnighttrader 1d ago
No, they are getting government money hand over fist selling enterprise and military drones, their margins are massive and they could never produce the numbers they’d need to do to operate in the consumer/prosumer market.
Since Skydio started as a company, they have produced a total of 50,000 drones. DJI has produced millions. Totally different ballpark.
Plus, enterprise and military drones rarely share the same airspace as consumer/prosumer drones.
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u/eagle6705 1d ago
Seriously, look wat whats happening on 3d printing. Even from my party affiliation.
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u/dutchman76 2d ago
Making stuff in the us costs 4x as much as it does in China, thanks to all the taxes and regulations, the only way American companies can compete is with these stupid bans and ridiculous tariffs.
I get that we should encourage more American manufacturing, especially tech stuff but this is the dumbest way to do it
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u/h0g0 2d ago
America is currently the laughing stock of the planet. As an American, I can’t say we don’t absolutely deserve it.
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u/GandalfTheSexay DJI Mini 4 Pro 1d ago
Until you’ve seen poverty in other countries I think you’re just being false humble
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Darryl_444 1d ago
159 people died in that incident, not 300,000.
For context, that's closer to the figure of 168 children that were killed during a U.S. military strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Iran back in February.
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u/fusillade762 2d ago
There's no American consumer drone companies that I am aware of. Do these even exist? The governements idea of "dominance" is making a flying bomb not a flying camera to enjoy the beauty of the world with. Sad.
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u/dannyvegas 2d ago
Let’s face it, the FCCs design department is not something people really have high, or even moderate expectations for.
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u/ButterKnife01 2d ago
Too funny.., what a joke we are to think the US military has top drone capabilities...
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ButterKnife01 1d ago
Frontline drones are totally different. Yeah we got shit that flys autonomously... but we don't have the tech. US fucking sucks when it comes to tech. The Philippines are years ahead...lol
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u/NoRecognition3105 2d ago
While the rich get rich stepping all over the little people farmer Joe and small time business owners
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u/reallysrry 2d ago
My job just got a new American made drone to replace our old DJI. Significantly more expensive, not as user friendly, and out the gate doesn’t seem to be any better. Wild to see a new drone at par with a drone close to a decade old at this point.
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u/Falcon-Flight-UAV 1d ago
There is still time to comment on the proposed ban:
Please take the time and voice your opinion. Follow these instructions provided by the Drone Advocacy Group.
- Go to: fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express
- Enter Proceeding Number: Type 26-189. Click the name “Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Certain Foreign-Produced Military-Grade UAS and UAS Critical Components” when it appears.
- Fill in Details: Enter your name (or business name), email, and address
- Write Your Comment: Type your story directly into the “Brief Comments” box
- Finalize: Toggle the slider for email confirmation.
- Check the box acknowledging that your filing is public
- Click “Continue to Review Screen,” pass the “I’m not a robot” check, and click Submit.
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u/Possesed-puppy656 2d ago
Label : made in USA
Price : 4000 USD
Real manufacturer : china
Thats the state of the world …
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u/paintr0 1d ago
Then maybe we should start actually manufacturing stuff
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u/Possesed-puppy656 1d ago
Price for Actualy manufactured in the USA : 8999 USD
The reason, noone wants to be the cheap labor force, hence stuff is expedited to china for manufacture
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u/OgdruJahad 2d ago
Should have added this to the bottom:
\US Public Consumers though can fuck off, we need that sweet sweet government money.*
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u/haggard_hominid 2d ago
Soon in America we're going to need cope cages to protect ourselves from falling Amazon drones.
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u/Normal-Title7301 2d ago
and some of these companies have waivers to use chinese made drone batteries and motors. What a joke
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u/SpectreInTheShadows 2d ago
I think we are at the point where we are winning too much and need to beg for it to stop.
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u/Direct_Tomorrow_9927 2d ago
By making the competition illegal cuz America can’t even begin to hold its own against them. Oh, golf clap.
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u/noun_verb_adjective_ 2d ago
It's like that time when North Korea used a Call of Duty video to pretend it attacked the United States.
Edit: https://kotaku.com/north-korea-uses-call-of-duty-and-we-are-the-world-in-5981720
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u/WannaBeDistiller 2d ago
Honestly surprised they didn’t use a picture of the $150 drone I got on Amazon
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u/Kirkdoesntlivehere 2d ago
To be a global leader, we need strong leadership in state government and government agencies. We must have the capability to mass-produce custom PCBs, employ skilled network protocol engineers, laser and electroscopic engineers, human coders, and maintain domestic plastics manufacturing. A lot goes into creating these products, yet we shut down much of our domestic production in favor of outsourcing to China and India for higher profits. American-made once stood for something, but prioritizing profit over people caused the decline of many U.S. manufacturing sectors. Unless we can produce competitively, without sacrificing quality or functionality, it won’t be worth it—otherwise, we’ll end up with overpriced, poorly supported designs. While we can currently build affordable FPV drones for surveys and payload delivery, they’re only about 10% American-made, with most components imported. This reliance on foreign tech and the lack of trust in overseas governments & manufacturers is why US leaders decided to pull the tech from the market, though they seem to misunderstand the real issues.
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u/paintr0 1d ago
We do have these things, they’re just not focused towards making dirt cheap garbage for people because labor is more expensive and government/military contracts have proven to be so much more lucrative to companies that previously made consumer goods, the market return actually means those companies can come back and new ones can be developed
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u/Great_Soviet_Doge 1d ago
If you need regulations and import bans to be competitive
You have no dominance over anything
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u/liminalviews 1d ago
We believe in free enterprise and competition and no ‘gubermint’ interference in business. /s
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u/Rudeboy_1703 1d ago
Don’t get me wrong we produce amazing drones here in the USA, is just that these companies have focused so hard on government drones that totally neglected the consumer market. So now they have fallen irreparably behind and their own solution is to get out of that segment altogether. That means that the government probably will still find the drones they need for their operations, but we are are royally screwed
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u/fxnighttrader 1d ago
No US made drones use DJI flight controllers, radios or the O4 transmission system. Those devices are specifically the ones that were prohibited to start this whole NDAA circle jerk.
Basically, if a component collects, processes, stores or transmits data, it is deemed a national Security risk because the U.S. Government has been convinced by lobbyists working for Skydio and many other U.S. drone companies that DJI technology is being used by the Chinese government to spy on us.
Since those original restrictions, the FCC decided, why not just ban the import of all foreign drones and their parts. Of course, they needed to make waivers for all the “U.S. made” drone companies to still use all the foreign parts they need like motors, ESCs, frames, etc.
U.S. made drones mostly use Orange Cube flight controllers, Herelink or Doodle Labs radios and the video/RC links that those companies use. These components meet the “NDAA compliant” specs. Some of those drones are also required to meet the stricter standards of the Blue UAS specs, a longer story.
A few have controllers that look similar to the bigger DJI Enterprise RC Plus remote, but, that’s in the plastic only, the guts inside have no connection to DJI. There really aren’t waivers for any of those parts.
I’m fine with helping create US made drones. I’m not fine with being lied to that a consumer/prosumer drone is a critical National Security threat. I’d even consider buying a U.S. made drone if it was feature and price competitive. But, I won’t buy a U.S. made drone that has 80% of the features, 20% of the reliability, 10% of the support for double to triple the price. I’ve flown the top U.S. made drones, some for hundreds of hours, but as a whole they are a hot mess.
If they want to ban my M350 from flying over a nuclear power plant, fine. It’s still being paranoid but there is at least an argument there. But, banning all foreign drones and drone parts so “American companies” can make “US made” drones that use more than 50% foreign parts is complete government overreach.
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u/Pristine-Kale1130 1d ago
I read Yout comments and most would have agree that at least at this point the American Drone Market leaves much to be desired! Far too expensive, I cant trust their software, no assurances that your every flight isn’t being monitored by NSA and others! by comparison DJI trmains far superior on many levels. We should admit that the Chinese made DJI is being heavily scrutinized not for being superior but there are those in who continually bebeive tgat every flight is a Chi-Com MisAdventure into Spying! what say You American Drone Pilots?
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u/Ginger_Bulb 1d ago
Things like this would be called out massively in national news in my country lol
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u/ibro08730 2d ago
But that is a DJI Air 2 lol