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US Army Walks Back Decision To Ban DJI Drones Ever So Slightly (suasnews.com)
garymortimer shares a report from sUAS News: News has reached me that another DJI memo was passed around on Friday the 11th of August. An exception to policy with recommendations from the asymmetric warfare group that will permit the use of DJI kit once some conditions have been met. The Android Tactical Assault Kit will become the ground control station (GCS) of choice when a DJI plugin has passed OPSEC (Operational Security) scrutiny. In a separate report from Reuters, DJI said it is "tightening data security in the hopes that the U.S. Army will lift its ban on DJI drones because of 'cyber vulnerabilities.'" The company is "speeding deployment of a system that allows users to disconnect from the internet during flights, making it impossible for flight logs, photos or videos to reach DJI's computer servers," reports Reuters. While the security measure has been in the works for several months, it's being rolled out sooner than planned because of the Army's decision to discontinue the use of DJI drones.
Actually, just because it's not transmitting a log doesn't mean it's not recording a log, or burst reporting a log summary once the drone clears the area. A wise intel officer for a foreign power can easily extrapolate the data based on the "on/off" nature of what it does. This can even allow you to pinpoint things enough for a decent zero survivor air strike.
But, hey, what do I know