Between 2021 and 2023, Florida banned Chinese-manufactured drones from government use. The move forced police and fire departments statewide to ground over $200 million worth of functional DJI equipment practically overnight.

The problem is that DJI makes an estimated 90% of the commercial drones in the United States. For most agencies, these weren't luxury purchases. They were daily tools used for search and rescue, crime scene documentation, accident reconstruction, and active threat response. And suddenly they couldn't fly.

Florida offered $25 million in replacement funding. That covered 12.5% of what agencies lost.

The cost gap between DJI and its American-made alternatives is not small. A DJI Matrice 30T runs $11,500 to $13,500. A comparable Skydio X10 costs $16,000 to $25,000, and tacks on $1,500 to $3,000 per year in software subscriptions for enterprise features that DJI includes at no extra charge. For small departments already stretched thin, the switch means buying fewer drones that do the same job at 3 to 14 times the cost.

The justification for the ban was national security: the concern that DJI drones could transmit sensitive data to the Chinese government. The University of South Florida was commissioned to complete a security analysis of the confiscated drones. The study was due by summer 2024. As of late 2025, no report has been published. No press release. No findings.

Florida's ban is now a preview of what's coming nationally. The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act mandated an FCC security review of DJI by December 2025. The review was never completed. Instead, the FCC added all new foreign-manufactured drones to a "Covered List" of national security risks, effectively banning the import and sale of new DJI models across the country.

The approved alternatives, Skydio, BRINC, Parrot, Inspired Flight, are scaling up manufacturing. But they can't match DJI's volume or price point yet. Agencies face a familiar government procurement dilemma: pay significantly more for less capability, or wait for an industry that hasn't caught up.

Florida spent $200 million building drone programs that worked. Replacing them will cost far more than the $25 million offered to do it.

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