North Dakota Lawmakers Consider Bill To Ban Drones Made In China

BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) — North Dakota could become the first state to outlaw drones made in China for government use.

Privacy and security are the main concerns but the bill’s sponsor says the move could have positive economic benefits.

It started with a casual conversation.

North Dakota State Representative Mike Nathe was catching up with unmanned aircraft system officials, asking why the state drones weren’t on the VANTIS system – more on that later.

The response was surprising.

“Because they’re all Chinese made. And they don’t want to have Chinese drones on their system, because they’re afraid it’s going to siphon off the data and transmit it back to China.”

This led Nathe to dig deeper, asking the state to find out just how many drones in the state fleet originated in China.

The results shocked him.

“North Dakota owns 353 drones in its state inventory – of those, 307 are DJI Chinese manufactured drones.
The government has looked into these drones, tore them apart, and found data collection devices and devices that transmit that data back to China.”

Nathe immediately got to work on legislation which would call for the replacement of those 307 Chinese drones with ones manufactured in America or in a friendly foreign country.

That bill has now cleared the state House by a vote of 89 to 4.

“We will be the first state in the country to replace its entire drone inventory of Chinese drones.”

The price tag for the substitution comes in at about $15 million dollars.

Nathe says that’s a small cost considering the potential security risks involved with letting China have access to North Dakota’s data.

“Look at what North Dakota has. We have two legs of the nuclear triad here in North Dakota. I would say that 15 million dollars is just a pittance for our security going forward, for not only the state but the nation.”

Plus, once the state fleet has been fully replaced, it will be able to participate in VANTIS, a drone network which could be poised for massive expansion –

allowing the state to capitalize financially on this leap in technology.

“The VANTAS system is being looked at by a lot of states, it is set up so that when we get the VANTAS system up and running, we can license that out to other states and other entities, and if that happens the state will then collect a royalty on that.”

Which is to say –

Nathe is proud of the work he’s done.

“I suspect you will see other states follow North Dakota’s lead on this.”

Nathe believes that the drones should be fully replaced in the next two years.