After product ban, the US DoD formally blacklists drone giant DJI

Drone giant DJI received more confounding news for its US operations this week when the Department of Defense (DoD) included the firm in a group of Chinese companies it has entered on an official blacklist.

The announcement officializes the de facto ban the DoD placed on procurement and use of DJI drones by its staff since last year. Though the Pentagon has prohibited the deployment of all off-the-shelf UAVs for official purposes since 2018, it specifically singled out DJI products as “potential threats to national security” last July. That was in rebuttal to news reports citing an internal audit said to have cleared the company’s products as safe for use. 

Read more: US Department of Defense statement says DJI products pose ‘potential threats’

This week, the DoD took its interdiction of the drones a step further by including  DJI on a list of 13 Chinese companies deemed to be closely tied to China’s military. They joined a…