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7/15/2025, 1:44:13 PM
>>510427814
DRONES ARE KEY TO WINNING WARS NOW. THE U.S. MAKES HARDLY ANY.
>A four-day test in the Alaska wilderness shows how far the U.S. military and American drone companies lag behind China in the technology.
>On a patch of dirt in the vast wilderness in Alaska, a long-range drone roared like a lawn mower as it shot into the sky. It scanned the ground for a target it had been programmed to recognize, and then dived, attempting to destroy it by crashing into it. But it missed, landing about 80 feet away.
>On another attempt, a drone nose-dived at launch. On a subsequent try, a drone crashed into a mountain.
>These drones weren’t flown by amateur hobbyists. They were launched by drone manufacturers paid by a special unit of the Department of Defense as part of an urgent effort to update U.S. capabilities. For four days last month, they tested prototypes of one-way drones by trying to crash them into programmed targets, while soldiers tried to stop the drones with special electronic equipment.
>DJI, of Shenzhen, China, accounts for about 70 percent of all commercial drones sold globally for hobby and industrial use, such as aerial photography, package delivery and weather research. The privately held company sells its equipment to customers in the United States — there’s even an authorized store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan — but U.S. law bars the military from buying Chinese drones.
>“No one even comes close,” said Bobby Sakaki, chief executive of UAS NEXUS, a drone industry consultant. “DJI can make millions of drones per year. That is a hundred times more than anybody in the United States can make.”
>“Everyone wants to win the Army’s big drone contract, get their billion-dollar check and go retire on an island somewhere,” said Nathan Ecelbarger, chairman of the U.S. National Drone Association
https://archive.md/UHvzt
DRONES ARE KEY TO WINNING WARS NOW. THE U.S. MAKES HARDLY ANY.
>A four-day test in the Alaska wilderness shows how far the U.S. military and American drone companies lag behind China in the technology.
>On a patch of dirt in the vast wilderness in Alaska, a long-range drone roared like a lawn mower as it shot into the sky. It scanned the ground for a target it had been programmed to recognize, and then dived, attempting to destroy it by crashing into it. But it missed, landing about 80 feet away.
>On another attempt, a drone nose-dived at launch. On a subsequent try, a drone crashed into a mountain.
>These drones weren’t flown by amateur hobbyists. They were launched by drone manufacturers paid by a special unit of the Department of Defense as part of an urgent effort to update U.S. capabilities. For four days last month, they tested prototypes of one-way drones by trying to crash them into programmed targets, while soldiers tried to stop the drones with special electronic equipment.
>DJI, of Shenzhen, China, accounts for about 70 percent of all commercial drones sold globally for hobby and industrial use, such as aerial photography, package delivery and weather research. The privately held company sells its equipment to customers in the United States — there’s even an authorized store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan — but U.S. law bars the military from buying Chinese drones.
>“No one even comes close,” said Bobby Sakaki, chief executive of UAS NEXUS, a drone industry consultant. “DJI can make millions of drones per year. That is a hundred times more than anybody in the United States can make.”
>“Everyone wants to win the Army’s big drone contract, get their billion-dollar check and go retire on an island somewhere,” said Nathan Ecelbarger, chairman of the U.S. National Drone Association
https://archive.md/UHvzt
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