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. The U.S. House of Representatives China committee will introduce one other “American Security Drone Act” today. The Act would limit the usage of Chinese manufactured drone technology by federal agencies.
There have been several iterations of the American Security Drone Act, limiting the acquisition and use of Chinese-made drone technology by federal agencies. The U.S. Senate introduced S. 473, the American Security Drone Act, first in February of this yr. Other bills of the identical name have been considered within the U.S. Congress at various times during the last several years. To make clear up front, these Acts do not apply to most people: they only relate to federal agencies and in some cases, the usage of federal funds.
We all know little about today’s motion, which was first reported by the Financial Times: but for the drone industry and public agencies reliant upon drones, the devil, as all the time, is in the main points.
Prohibiting Purchase, or Prohibiting Operation?
The Senate version, S. 473, calls for a prohibition on the federal purchase of drones manufactured or assembled by “covered entities.” S.473 defines an entity as those parties named on a listing maintained by the Federal Acquisition Security Council, which incorporates several categories and includes any entity domiciled in China. The Act also calls for a prohibition on the operation of drones manufactured or assembled by a covered entity – but provides a 2 yr grace period before that takes effect. This grace period is critical for agencies that must discover, purchase, and train personnel on recent aircraft. Without it, agencies can have to halt some or all of their drone programs: which could seriously damage the industry as an entire.
Exemptions or Waivers
Broad stroke bans are never complete: there are all the time special cases. S. 473 does allow for the event of a waiver process and for some exemptions. For the drone industry, this waiver process can also be extremely vital. Research agencies like NOAA rely on a fleet of unmanned aircraft. Agencies including Homeland Security must have the ability to coach and research on any drone that may very well be weaponized, including those from covered entities. Problems can also arise as recipients of federal grants work to develop and test emerging technologies reminiscent of counter drone systems.
Application
Who’s affected if an American Security Drone Act is passed into law? As stated above, no congressional act limits the acquisition or operation of any drone by civilians: the Acts apply only to federal agencies. Nevertheless, S. 473 also limits the procurement of covered aircraft “through grants and cooperative agreements entered into with non-Federal entities.” This might impact some law enforcement and public safety agencies in addition to other corporations working with government agencies on research and development.
Why?
S. 473 states clearly that the goal of the American Security Drone Act is twofold: to limit the exposure to foreign technology infrastructure which can present a security risk, and to support the domestic drone industry. A ban on certain drones limits the safety exposure: however the wording of the bill is vital to make sure that it doesn’t also limit the acquisition of secure platforms from U.S. corporations, manufactured within the US or by non-“covered entity” partners.
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