There is one American company making comparable products, https://www.anzurobotics.com/. If I understand correctly, these are basically DJI hardware with American software. I don't know if they use DJI control boards or manufacturer their own but their FAQ does mention they license tech from DJI.
As for the quality, I’ve ordered a few products under some pretty outlandish names and I can’t say that quality was any worse than that of most other no-(real)-name things sold on Amazon.
https://overengineer.dev/blog/2021/04/25/usb-c-hub-madness/
Now, for hubs, I didn't need a full blown thunderbolt one, but my current hub this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F5PY4F2N?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_...
which works fine - I looked at some competitors with 2x and 3x the money for the same and sometimes lesser specs.
The hardware typically runs https://pixhawk.org/ on 3d printed airframes https://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/ukraine-s-drone-air-for... or to OP's point, DJI drones flashed with custom firmware
roenxi•6mo ago
On the other hand, I doubt they can really stop China and it is amazing watching the US first position themselves to reject manufacturing as an undesirable industry, then start blocking imports from the globe's foremost industrial superpower as they realise that industrial capacity wins wars. There is a level of incoherence here - how does the US intend to run an advanced industrial society if it won't accept local pollution and won't accept goods from the places pollution is outsourced to?
Depending always on how misleading the Chinese figures are, the US doesn't have the globe's preeminent economy any more. They appear to be #2 or very close to becoming it. They're going to have to re-learn how to engage with a larger more industrially successful power and keep on good terms with people through diplomacy.
imglorp•6mo ago
What exactly is the attack vector here? If we're talking about sleeper agents sure but these restrictions are focused on importing commercial products by citizens here: crop dusters and photography etc. sure they have a cloud service and might exfiltrate some aerial photography, but then anybody can see the same on Google Earth.
I think this is just a negotiating tactic and a little bit of red scare to amp up the defense story
unsnap_biceps•6mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Spiderweb
JKCalhoun•6mo ago
mcphage•6mo ago
JKCalhoun•6mo ago
defrost•6mo ago
A more realistic "danger" is DJI drones taking over the market (more than they have already) and:
* backdooring usage patterns back to China - that gives a lot of info via traffic analysis especially if adopted by law enforcement and military,
* suddenly proving useless in a crunch (when used by military or paramilitary for observation or weapons delivery against forces China favours) due to backdoor control.
codedokode•6mo ago
defrost•6mo ago
It's a risk for China to use US hardware in Chinese network infrastructure as much as it is a risk for the US to use Chinese communications or other hardware.
These risks can be mitigated by vetting but they are real risks that countries must account for in their national security protocols.
msgodel•6mo ago
This should have been done long ago but now it's creating problems even for the government. There is no legitimate reason for non-free firmware.
freeopinion•6mo ago
That's a long way to ask if you mean all firmware, or if you think some devices are more public security sensitive.
coldtea•6mo ago
Wouldn't mind ALL firmware, but also clearly some device categories are also more crucial than others.
msgodel•6mo ago
Yes.
SR2Z•6mo ago
If you sell me a piece of hardware, you should owe me any software required to make it perform to its original spec. Simple as that.
Kim_Bruning•6mo ago
Some systems do require secrets, that's what cryptography is for. The algorithms are generally open and audited, and only the minimum (the keys) are kept secret.
hopelite•6mo ago
esseph•6mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Light_teams
Are you sure supply chain sabotage is really that unusual in 2025?
Didn't a bunch of pagers just explode?
4gotunameagain•6mo ago
This will take decades, if it ever happens. The entire political and power system of the US is rife in arrogance and the thought that they can do whatever they want. Because they could, for quite a while. Look at all the coups, all the meddling.
dmd•6mo ago
Oh, don’t worry, we’re fixing that! :/
nirui•6mo ago
I'm a Chinese let me just point out the obvious here: it's not that US "rejected" manufacturing, it's simply that the US at that time needed to get itself into a more profitable service economy, and by doing that it raised the living standard in the US so slowly more and more US citizens stopped seeing manufacturing jobs as an attractive option.
In fact, I don't really think Americans can be attracted to the manufacturing industry again (least not in this form), unless of course if you want to work in a sweat factory and handle heavy metal such as lead and lithium-ion while have full knowledge that doing such work will shorten your lifespan by 10% or more. Even China is upgrading it's manufacturing capability/technology because (guess what?) the Chinese also stopped wanting these dirty jobs.
The DJI bomb conspiracy is stupid because it assumes that the CBP of the US is dumb enough to not screening for explosives while doing their inspection. If smuggling this massive amount of bombs into the US can be this easy, then I'm afraid you are in much bigger trouble than this.
roenxi•6mo ago
Given that we seem to be in an ongoing escalation spiral towards WWIII I'm amazed at how little interest people take. The Ukrainians pulled an attack like this off literally last month, and it was widely publicised how they did it. If the Chinese military wanted to pull something similar off they'd ship components in and assemble them inside the States. And then probably make an attempt to recruit other Chinese drones act as decoys in a large swarm to overwhelm any anti-drone defences.
The more obvious counterargument to the idea that is relevant to the DJI restrictions is that there is likely no special need to use DJI drones, arguing that out would require a better knowledge of exactly what anti-drone defences the US has then I possess. But the feasibility of the style of attack isn't in question.
And it may well be that easy to smuggle a massive amount of bombs into the US, their border sounds pretty porous. Based on the stats theoretically an army could have walked in to the US over the last couple of years and they might not have noticed. Around 11 million people are in the States after bypassing the official checks and at its height the Eastern front in WWII was only around 10 million soldiers at any one time if we add the Germans and Russians both.
nirui•6mo ago
Then why don't they just source drone parts directly from local vendors? I mean, you can literally build all-American bomber drones, inside America, and then blame the attack on domestic terrorism. Why bother shipping the components from half a world away and the components says it was "Made In China"? Sounded like a lot of extra work and not very economical.
See the logical contraction here?
Am I on Reddit? Because this whole idea/conspiracy gives me the strong feeling of Reddit r/worldnews vibe.