Drones Made in America: Why the Big Push and What is the Solution?

by | Jun 21, 2021 | News & Awards

Security concerns, data leaks, and several other events over the past few years have invigorated a push for drones made in America. Starting with a ban by the US Army in 2017, additional restrictions and an executive order now prohibit the US Government and its agencies from purchasing drones made in China and several other countries. Vision Aerial offers American made drones and has an NDAA compliant version for government agencies.

drone arm assemblies
Drone arm assemblies at the Vision Aerial production facility in Bozeman, Montana.

Timeline of Events: How Did We Get Here?

2017

US Army Bans DJI Drones

First, the US Army banned troops from using DJI’s Chinese made drones in 2017. An army memo citing a classified report, “DJI UAS Technology Threat and User Vulnerabilities” provided the direction to, “Cease all use, uninstall all DJI applications, remove all batteries/storage media from devices, and secure equipment for follow on direction.

Link to Source
no drone zone
US Department of Homeland Security

2019

Department of Homeland Security Issues Alerts that Drones May be Stealing Data

Drones are a “potential risk to an organization’s information,” the alert from DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency states. The products “contain components that can compromise your data and share your information on a server accessed beyond the company itself.”

More info

2020

FAR Rule Section 889

Effective August of 2020, Section 889(a)(1)(B) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019, prohibits the US government from procuring telecommunication equipment or services produced by five specific Chinese companies. These companies include Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company, or any of their subsidiaries/affiliates.

screenshot of the federal register entity list web page

December: DJI Added to the Restricted Trade List

“The ERC determined to add the entities AGCU Scientech; China National Scientific Instruments and Materials (CNSIM); DJI; and Kuang-Chi Group for activities contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests. Specifically, these four entities have enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance, and/or facilitated the export of items by China that aid repressive regimes around the world, contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests.”

https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2020-28031/p-13

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) FY 2020 Section 848

Starting with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) FY 2020 Section 848, the government stated that the Secretary of Defense may not operate or procure unmanned aircraft systems that are made in China or Russia, or use critical electronic components (radios, flight controllers, cameras, gimbals, or data transmission devices) that are made in these “covered countries.”

Sec. 848. Prohibition on operation or procurement of foreign-made unmanned aircraft systems.

https://www.congress.gov/116/crpt/hrpt333/CRPT-116hrpt333.pdf
Seal of the President of the United States

2021

Executive Order 13981 Prevents Procurement of Chinese Drones

In January of 2021, former president Trump issued an executive order that prevented the procurement of non-American drones with taxpayer dollars. As stated in the order, “It is the policy of the United States, therefore, to prevent the use of taxpayer dollars to procure UAS that present unacceptable risks and are manufactured by, or contain software or critical electronic components from, foreign adversaries, and to encourage the use of domestically produced UAS.”

Furthermore, in January of 2021, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that any drone not on the Blue sUAS list would be removed from Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts

What is the Current Problem?

While there are dozens of manufactures that say their drones are made in America, the reality is many are assembled in America, with major parts coming from China. While it may not matter where the raw materials were sourced, the aircraft may contain critical electronic components that are able to transmit sensitive data to covered foreign entities.

What is Considered “Made in America”?

Saying a product is made in America is a pretty gray area, with no hard requirements or guidelines. Strictly speaking, in order to carry the “Made in the USA” mark, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires “all or virtually all” the production to take place in the United States. In 1997, the FTC proposed that if 75 percent of manufacturing costs are domestic, or the product was substantially transformed in the US, it could be marked as “made in the USA”. The Buy American Act says for government procurement purposes, a product must be manufactured in the US with more than 50 percent US parts to be considered made in the USA.

For more information, review the Buy American Act at 41 U.S.C. §§ 10a-10c

Working Towards a Solution: Drones Made in America

Drone in foreground and worker with soldering iron in background.
Drone build in progress at Vision Aerial in Bozeman, Montana.

Blue sUAS Projects

The original Blue sUAS project created a list of small drones that were considered secure for military purposes. Only four American companies were on the list.

More recently, the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) kicked off a Blue sUAS 2.0 project to evaluate and create an updated list of drones made in America that comply with NDAA FY 2020 Section 848 and Executive Order 13981. The standards are rigorous, and their requirements include the ability to field swap payloads, 30+ minute flight times, ability to fly in winds greater than 15 mph, open source command and control protocols. Manufacturers must also prove that they have a viable, off-the-shelf working solution and can produce more than 10 units in 30 days.

Vision Aerial Drones Are Made in America

Vision Aerial is an American company, with headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. Design and engineering is done in the US. We also manufacture parts, assemble, and test our systems domestically. All unique components are made in America. This includes: 

  • Airframe
  • Fuselage Structures and Body Housing
  • Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)
  • Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs)
  • Motors
  • Props & Rotors
  • Wire harnesses
  • Flight Control System
  • Navigation System
  • Electronics
Bin full of metal parts
Custom made parts for Vision Aerial drones made in America.

Vision Aerial Takes Pride Producing High-Quality UAVs

We know what our clients really care about is getting the data they need to make informed decisions that will positively impact their business. Therefore our systems are built for versatility, ease of use, and reliability. Founded on the spirit of continuous improvement, we regularly incorporate customer feedback into improving our products.

In the manufacturing process, each system goes through extensive testing and a wide array of quality control checkpoints to ensure everything is perfect each step of the way. Components are quality checked, bench tested, flight tested, and verified with a signature of approval before being shipped off to the client.

Vision Aerial Drones are Section 889 Compliant

As an American drone manufacturer, we’ve also received inquiries about whether we’re “Section 889 Compliant.” On a drone, telecommunication equipment could include components like the ground controller or radio. Finding out where components are manufactured is not a straightforward process. In the case of 3rd party vendors, you may have to track down who the original manufacturer is and where they are located. In some cases, the listed manufacturer may be a parent company, and you have to dig a bit deeper to determine exactly who manufactures components within the system. Then, you have to check if they are one of the dozens (if not hundreds) of subsidiaries or affiliates of the five listed entities. This is the most comprehensive list of subsidiaries and affiliates we’ve found so far.

From the research we have conducted, Vision Aerial has determined that we are Section 889 compliant.

Vision Aerial Offers NDAA-Compliant Drones

Vision Aerial has gone through a government review of the critical electronic components used in our drones. All the components passed NDAA compliance. The one exception was the Herelink ground control station that we offer to our commercial clients. We offer an alternate ground control station for government entities who require an NDAA compliant system.

Sources of Critical Electronic Components:
  • Flight Controller – Blue Cube, America
  • GPS – Taiwan
  • Radio Transmitter – Integrated into the Ground Control Station
  • Ground Control Station –
    • Commercial Version – Herelink, China
    • TAA Compliant Version – Blue Herelink, USA 
    • NDAA Compliant Version – Mobilicom, Austrailia

Conclusion

There is good cause for the recent uptick in requests for American made drones. It is important to understand that the term, made in America, has many shades of meaning. Government agencies are now prohibited from purchasing drones that have not been vetted and confirmed to be NDAA Section 848 and Executive Order 13981 compliant. Vision Aerial drones are made in America and the electronic components have been confirmed to be secure. NDAA compliant versions are available for government clients.

Need an NDAA Compliant Drone Made in America?
Call (406) 333-1795

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