Chinese maker of drones wins US clearance for new high-security models

China’s DJI Technologies, the world’s largest manufacturer of drones, announced on Tuesday that high-security drone technology on two new models had won clearance from US regulators.

DJI, based in Shenzhen, said that its high-security drones, intended for government use and known as Government Edition, had received clearance from the US Department of the Interior, which is responsible for evaluating and approving drone technology for use across a wide range of applications.

“The Department of Interior’s report validates DJI’s effort to build software and hardware solutions that meet the evolving data security needs of its customers,” said Mario Rebello, DJI’s vice-president and regional manager for North America, said in a statement.

The approval was a rare example of Chinese technology company winning US government clearance in a climate recently defined by suspicion and restrictions. Chinese telecommunications hardware has drawn most of the attention as potential national security threats – with US President Donald Trump banning American agencies from using smartphones and other devices by China’s Huawei – but US agencies and lawmakers have also portrayed Chinese-made drones as technology that might pose security issues.

In May, CNN reported that the US Department of Homeland Security alerted US companies to “be aware” of whether their “unmanned aerial systems” (UAS) data was “being stored by the vendor or other third parties.