Search Assist
The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called for a formal security review of DJI drones (and Autel Robotics) to assess any potential risks to national security; the task of doing this review was not assigned to a specific agency and, as result the review was never done. As a consequence of doing nothing at all, DJI drones were placed on a U.S. formal naughty list (December 2025). Some speculation suggested that was always the plan – no US agency was ever going to conduct the required review.
DJI hired a US cyber-security firm to do that review. The audit found zero vulnerabilities. Some features of that audit include:
- * PCB-level teardowns with attention to emissions from specific circuits
- * Attempts to hack the radio signal, including jamming and malformed packet injection
- * Supply chain integrity checks against the Hardware Bill of Materials
Of course, the use of a third party does not fulfill the NDAA audit requirement and many people with doubt the report’s veracity. However, as this is the first audit of its kind (ever), it does establish a precedent.
DJI aerial drones are widely used for agriculture, law enforcement, search and rescue, professional photo & video, and consumer photo & video. At costs below $10K, the features of DJI aerial drones has been unrivaled; there has been no comparable American-made products. National policy makers are probably hoping that the DJI ban will make room for some new American-made products that will disrupt DJI dominance.
More from DroneXL: https://dronexl.co/2026/05/28/dji-ondefend-security-audit-air-3s-matrice-4e/
Link to the report: https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2026/05/DJI-Technology-Inc.-Security-Assessment-Executive-Report.pdf