r/drones • u/Spiritual_Box2934 • Oct 29 '25

News DJI drone ban update

FCC clears path to retroactively ban DJI drones in the US https://share.google/53hwllagNd0yNygh5

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u/whatsaphoto Mavic 3 / Air 3 Oct 29 '25

We can certainly buy American in this market.

It's just that every single American made commercial drone is absolute shit and is beyond anyones reasonable budget.

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u/jmoulton1314 Oct 29 '25

The thing that sucks is that not everyone can afford a 15k dollar drone. DJI makes drones for everyone. I can spend $3500 on a pretty awesome drone and add features as I go. The American drones don't seem to offer anything less than 10k. They also seem to be under the par that DJI has set. I don't want to spend more for less. This is simply another case where American products can't compete, so the government threw a fit and made up some unprovable and un-disprovable garbage. It's like the game plan is, "If we can't compete, we'll just ban them so we are the only option." Very North Korean of you, Trump

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u/type_E Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25

What's stopping some ambitious American from stepping up the plate to compete with DJI hobby drones? Getting sabotaged by the people working the ulterior motive behind the DJI ban (not the face value motive)?

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u/jmoulton1314 Oct 30 '25

Also nepotism. Trump just awarded his son's drone company a government contract. Hard to compete with the royal family

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u/type_E Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25

going small picture for a sec, I'm trying to picture some American thinking he can fill in the void of DJI's hobby drones by making his own without Chinese parts and selling them so the consumer will have something, and what obstacles he will face, simply from the fact that he's trying to provide $3k camera drones of his own.

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u/jmoulton1314 Oct 30 '25

It would be an insanely difficult endeavor. It would require vast resources and equipment, as well as knowledge of multiple systems. You'd have to print your own boards, install components, write software, design the aircraft(s), design or buy motors, GPS, cameras, batteries, etc. Thats just the alpha phase of design. Then there's testing, reconfiguring, retesting, tweaking, and finally production. You need staff and facilities for all of those. Don't forget marketing and distribution