DJI by Another Name—The Loophole that Will Let You Buy DJI Drones Even If They Get Banned

The scoop: DJI drones could get banned. But new licensing agreements may allow companies to continue selling DJI drones under different names.

Keep reading to learn how this works—and whether companies will have to admit they’re selling DJI clones.

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The possibility of a DJI ban is the hottest topic in the drone industry right now.

The law that proposes it—which is called the Countering CCP Drones Act—has already passed the House and is now awaiting a vote in the Senate to become law.

But most likely that won’t happen until December (although a senator from Montana has promised to introduce the law in the Senate this week).

Credit: DJI

If the ban passes, it will only apply to new DJI drones. So if you own a DJI drone or buy one between now and then, you’ll be able to keep flying it, unless something changes.

Also, there’s no guarantee the ban will pass. There is a lot of pushback right now from first responders and others, calling out the damage such a ban will do to the drone industry, and those voices are likely to get louder as the urgency of the issue is conveyed to more and more people.

But even if the ban does get passed, it looks like DJI drone technology may still be available in the U.S.—because there’s a loophole that will allow DJI to continue selling its drone technology via other companies.

How DJI Drones Might Still Be Available—Even If DJI Gets Banned

Right now, there are two companies offering what are essentially DJI drones: Anzu Robotics and Cogito Tech Company Limited.

Both companies are relatively new. And, to be clear, they are separate entities from DJI, not just DJI operating under a different name.

To do this, the companies are licensing DJI technology to make and sell their own drones.

Anzu Robotics has a public licensing agreement with DJI to make NDAA-compliant versions of the company’s drones, and its leadership has spoken openly about this.

On the other hand, Cogito Tech denies there’s any relationship between it and DJI, or that its drones are clones of DJI’s—although it’s pretty clear they are.

Anzu Robotics’ DJI Licensing Agreement

Anzu Robotics recently launched its first drone, the Raptor, which is almost a 1:1 clone of the Mavic 3 Enterprise. (There’s a second version that comes with a thermal camera, like the Mavic 3T.)

The Raptor | Credit: Anzu Robotics

To clone the Mavic 3, Anzu Robotics created a licensing deal with DJI that allows it to use the Mavic 3’s blueprint to manufacture Anzu’s own drone. As Randall Warnass, the founder of Anzu Robotics, has put it, the process is like buying a recipe but cooking the food on your own.

The major differences between the Raptor and the Mavic 3 are related to supply chain and security:

• Anzu’s drones are made in Malaysia instead of China
• They run on software from Aloft, which is based in the U.S.
• The company itself is based in the U.S., in Austin, TX

Basically, the Raptor is a DJI drone that sidesteps the “made in China” concerns that come with Chinese drones, and especially with DJI.

These concerns aren’t just talking points. The 2024 NDAA bans Chinese drones from use by the federal government, which means that a federal agency can buy a Raptor, but can’t buy a Mavic 3.

Anzu Robotics is focused on enterprise sales only. And it may soon have federal clients, which would prove the value of the idea underlying its entire company: Make DJI drones that avoid supply chain concerns, and the U.S. government—not to mention private companies—will buy them.

Cogito Tech’s DJI Clones

Cogito Tech is based in Hong Kong, and it registered with the FCC in August of 2023 to sell drones in the U.S.

The first drone it launched here was the Specta Air, which appears to be an exact match with the DJI Air 3. It also has a Specta Mini, which seems to match the DJI Mini 4 Pro.

Credit: Cogito Tech

Unlike Anzu Robotics, Cogito Tech completely denies that its drones have anything to do with DJI. But the evidence points at them being exact-match copies of specific DJI models.

Jack Towne, a drone influencer who runs a YouTube channel called Half Chrome, has thoroughly compared Cogito Tech’s Specta Air with the DJI Air 3 and found that the two drones have the same flight time, camera, range and software.

And the similarities don’t stop there.

The smoking gun is the radio frequency the drones share. According to reporting from The Hill, which broke the Cogito Tech story, FCC records show that Specta drones share their radio frequency with DJI and Anzu Robotics. (Skycatch is the only other company on the same frequency—it’s a DJI partner.)

Credit: Cogito Tech

Further, a former DJI employee told The Hill that it would be impossible for Specta drones to be on that frequency without using DJI technology—specifically, DJI’s proprietary transmission system OcuSync.

There are other similarities, too. The Specta’s controller uses the same font, style, and layout as the DJI RC-N2, making the back of each controller almost an exact match.

And Ian Lewis, a drone expert who runs a YouTube channel called Mads Tech has found that the Specta drones use unique chipsets, which are patented by DJI and can’t be found anywhere else.

Probably Just the Beginning

Anzu Robotics and Cogito Tech are already selling DJI clones, as best we can tell.

So just think of what might happen if DJI actually gets banned: Most likely, we’ll have several more companies begin selling DJI drones made in ways that avoid supply chain and security concerns.

But how much will these clones cost? And will they be made well?

We know the Raptor sells for about $1,400 more than the Mavic 3 Enterprise ($5,100 compared to $3,700). And the Specta Air sells for about $200 more than the Air 3 ($1,199 compared to $989).

So the price is definitely higher. But on the quality front, there will probably be a wide range, with some companies making high-quality copies and other companies making their drones as inexpensively as possible.

What Can You Do about the DJI Ban?

Want to express your concerns about the ban? Here’s what you can do:

• Find your members of Congress.
• Send them a message or call them to express your concerns. (The Drone Advocacy Alliance has resources that can help you craft your message).