Is DJI Aeroscope a Threat to National Security?

Recently there have been many national security concerns about attempts by the Chinese government to infiltrate and control U.S. critical infrastructure. The FBI and U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently released a memo outlining these concerns and a congressional committee has been bringing light to these dangers.

Many U.S. government agencies and counter-drone service providers have been utilizing DJI Aeroscope to track drones and secure critical airspace. Although DJI had seemingly discontinued the system in 2022, they recently released an "Aeroscope Upgrade Module" as a required hardware upgrade to all deployed Aeroscope systems.

SkySafe conducted extensive analysis of these updates and changes to the DJI Aeroscope system and recently released the findings at the Counter UAS Technology Summit in Washington, D.C. The findings include:

• The system adds Chinese government specified encryption to the signals.
• Renders DJI drones invisible to non-upgraded Aeroscope systems.
• Adds the ability for DJI, and the Chinese government, to hide drones based on geographic location and serial number.
• This includes fully offline systems and modified Aeroscope systems like the Department of Defense's "Windtalker" units, as well as service providers that utilize Aeroscope systems including Dedrone, Aerial Armor, AirSight, and others.

SkySafe has never depended on technology controlled by other companies or countries and remains the independent source of truth on airspace data. U.S. government agencies and officials have an obligation to ensure the security and sovereignty of our national critical infrastructure and continued use of DJI Aeroscope is a national security threat.