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Chinese Drone Company Withdraws From Russia and Ukraine

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Illustrative photo: a US marine launching a drone at a training mision / Photo credit: Alamy Stock Photos
Illustrative photo: a US marine launching a drone at a training mision / Photo credit: Alamy Stock Photos

Major manufacturer of UAVs for civilian use DJI has left Russian and Ukrainian markets in order to prevent the use of their drone in military combat

Complying with Beijing's official neutral position, DJI copter drone-making company announced the suspension of business with both russian federation and Ukraine. The company's spokesperson said it was "not to make a statement about any country, but to make a statement about our principles", Reuters reports.

"DJI abhors any use of our drones to cause harm, and we are temporarily suspending sales in these countries in order to help ensure no one uses our drones in combat," the DJI representative said.

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While it is yet hard to tell how hard this would hit the Ukrainian military, russian army will suffer from it for sure. As Defense Express reported, russian invasion forces in Ukraine have lost numerous domestically made "Orlan-10" drones to Ukrainian air defense, so they were looking for a cheap substitute for reconnaissance. According to our sources, some units of the Southern Military District were to receive MAVIC-3 unmanned aerial vehicles of quadcopter type produced by DJI.

Defense Express / MAVIC-3 civilian drones drone were to take place of the russian
MAVIC-3 civilian drones drone were to take place of the russian "Orlan-10" recon UAV. The price of Chinese quadcopter on the official store starts from about 2,000 USD and higher / Photo credit: DJI

DJI representative said last month the company was aware Russian military might be using its products, but it had not been able to confirm this, Reuters wrote. In addition, the company had no control over the use of its products.

DJI-produced drones are relatively small consumer drones for amateur and professional camera shooting. Ukrainian border guards used those for patrolling but there is no official data on the military use of those drones in combat. The footage published by Ukrainian armed units' press centers usually mention larger drones for precisely military use, such as the Ukrainian-made "Leleka-100".

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