Fantastic breakdown of the opportunity here. The point about Ukraine already having the battle-tested iteration culture is lowkey the biggest competitive edge that people overlook. I've worked in supply chain before and getting the 'non-Chinese enough' certification lined up while under attck sounds nightmarish but Ukraine's been pulling off impossible logistics for years now. Kinda rooting for a Mavic alterantive that doesn't make me paranoid about firmware updates.
You are 100% correct. I would add that hardware sourcing still matters because supply chains create leverage. If key parts are Chinese-made and your production depends on them, Beijing does not need to hack you, it can throttle you. If the West wants a DJI replacement, it wants something that cannot be shut off by geopolitics or export restrictions at the worst possible moment.
Also, some “hardware” problems blur into software anyway. Camera modules, radios, GNSS components, flight controllers, and ESCs often come with closed firmware, vendor drivers, and black-box chips. Even if the drone brand is Ukrainian, a handful of opaque modules can drag the trust question right back into the airframe.
The firmware within a module such as a camera can only really pose a threat if the system as a whole allows it to. It may be designed to communicate with Beijing, but can only do so if the communications components facilitate that.
As an example, if you must allow communication via TCP/IP networking, then use EEPROM or even DIP switches to set the one and only IP address the device can communicate with.
Almost all critical electronic parts for Ukrainian drones come from China. Particularly the disposable kill vehicles.
3D printing camera cages or injection molding body panel covers isn’t that difficult. There’s also Ukrainians make drone accessories, basically.
There’s also the part where most of the cutting edge drones in Ukraine come from DARPA and US, EU, and Israeli defense contractors, meaning they’ll be the ones selling them after the war.
I agree with Wes’s assessment, yet am also amused at the irony that the anti-DJI crusade is part of the MAGA performative crusade. While I would not recommend for American military drones to be made in China, isn’t the alleged risk from cinematography drones wildly overblown? I used to follow this closely and may be way out of date, but last I checked, DJI claimed to offer military-level security in its consumer drones, and indeed no benevolent hacker ever succeeded in cracking one.
I hope Ukraine can make it happen. If it means new skills and extra income to fight Putin, I fully support.
I’m more worried about the data the US government is storing on US people in US databases than anything China is doing.
I’m worried about the data China is gathering on drone usage - and drone *warfare.*
I’ll buy a drone for my photography once I have trust in a non-China supply chain. Not before.
Unfortunately, that ship has already sailed.
Fantastic breakdown of the opportunity here. The point about Ukraine already having the battle-tested iteration culture is lowkey the biggest competitive edge that people overlook. I've worked in supply chain before and getting the 'non-Chinese enough' certification lined up while under attck sounds nightmarish but Ukraine's been pulling off impossible logistics for years now. Kinda rooting for a Mavic alterantive that doesn't make me paranoid about firmware updates.
"chips, sensors, precision gimbal parts, and high-quality camera modules still have to come from somewhere.
If the “somewhere” is China, then the product fails the whole trust test"
Isn't it just the Chinese firmware / software that the FCC has a problem with ?
You are 100% correct. I would add that hardware sourcing still matters because supply chains create leverage. If key parts are Chinese-made and your production depends on them, Beijing does not need to hack you, it can throttle you. If the West wants a DJI replacement, it wants something that cannot be shut off by geopolitics or export restrictions at the worst possible moment.
Also, some “hardware” problems blur into software anyway. Camera modules, radios, GNSS components, flight controllers, and ESCs often come with closed firmware, vendor drivers, and black-box chips. Even if the drone brand is Ukrainian, a handful of opaque modules can drag the trust question right back into the airframe.
The firmware within a module such as a camera can only really pose a threat if the system as a whole allows it to. It may be designed to communicate with Beijing, but can only do so if the communications components facilitate that.
As an example, if you must allow communication via TCP/IP networking, then use EEPROM or even DIP switches to set the one and only IP address the device can communicate with.
Almost all critical electronic parts for Ukrainian drones come from China. Particularly the disposable kill vehicles.
3D printing camera cages or injection molding body panel covers isn’t that difficult. There’s also Ukrainians make drone accessories, basically.
There’s also the part where most of the cutting edge drones in Ukraine come from DARPA and US, EU, and Israeli defense contractors, meaning they’ll be the ones selling them after the war.
I agree with Wes’s assessment, yet am also amused at the irony that the anti-DJI crusade is part of the MAGA performative crusade. While I would not recommend for American military drones to be made in China, isn’t the alleged risk from cinematography drones wildly overblown? I used to follow this closely and may be way out of date, but last I checked, DJI claimed to offer military-level security in its consumer drones, and indeed no benevolent hacker ever succeeded in cracking one.
I suppose the question then becomes whether DJI is hiding a back door that no one has discovered.