DJI's Drone System Approved by US Federal Agency

Technology, Financials, Automotive Author: Sirui Zhou Jul 10, 2019 07:58 PM (GMT+8)

The report validates and approves DJI's high-security solution for government drone programs. The US DOI endorsement could help DJI unlock more opportunities in the global government and military-use drone market.

Image Credit: Unsplash

Shenzhen-based DJI has relieved from US pressure as its unmanned aircraft system gets approved by the US after a 15-month testing period. 

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Aviation Services on July 2 released the Flight Test and Technical Evaluation Report of DJI Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), in which it validates and approves DJI's high-security solution for government drone programs. 

The assessment was conducted on 1,133 flights totaling 298 hours on the M600 Pro and 1,112 flights totaling 240 hours for the Mavic Pro. Test results confirmed the suitability of hardware, firmware, software and applications for conducting interior bureau missions. 

In addition, DOI market research also indicates that "currently no domestically available alternatives that are competitive in price, required mission and security performance, and necessary scalability to the two tested UAS." 

The drone provider has been working with US DOI for more than two years, who jointly developed the Government Edition (GE) system. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), another US federal agency and a US national laboratory conducted cybersecurity tests and independently came to the same conclusion that no data transmitted outside the system. NASA determined "the DOI version of DJI GE system did not communicate with servers in China." However, the report also mentions the results cannot be extended to future updates.  

DJI has taken more than 70% global market share for commercial and consumer drones. However, consumer drone and commercial drone only make up 13% and 17% respectively of the overall drone market yet military drone constitutes 70%, according to Goldman Sachs analysis. The close cooperation with US government and the US DOI endorsement could help DJI unlock more opportunities in the global government and military-use drone market.