A Chinese firm is America’s favourite drone maker – except in Washington

A DJI drone flies supplies to a Weber County Search and Rescue training exercise in Ogden, Utah, on April 11, 2024. US authorities consider Chinese drone maker DJI a security threat; Congress is weighing legislation to ban it, prompting a lobbying campaign from the company, which dominates the commercial and consumer drone markets. — The New York Times

The drones circled over the caves and crevices scattered around the mountain trails in northern Utah, feeding real-time video back to a search team on the ground looking for a missing hiker. Nineteen minutes later, they had her coordinates, bringing the rescue – a drill – closer to conclusion.

“In this kind of environment, that’s actually pretty quick,” said Kyle Nordfors, a volunteer search and rescue worker. He was operating one of the drones, made by the Chinese company DJI, which dominates sales to law enforcement agencies as well as the hobbyist market in the United States.