US Air Force Requisitions Chinese Origin DJI Drones

The United States Air Force (USAF) wants to procure Chinese origin DJI Mavic Pro Platinum drones which cost $1099 each for specific missions.

The USAF is seeking to buy a new set of drones, and as part of a federal requirement, it has to document its justification if soliciting a particular brand name item, according to a notice released on the US Federal Business Opportunities website last month, Update.ph reported Wednesday.

“Mission requirements are our first major concern when selecting a SUAS platform,” according to a document dated Aug. 17, 2018. “Other platforms such as the Tiny Whoop, Ebee, and 3DR solo do not have the all-around versatility to perform the wide array of tasks (i.e. weather limitations, camera resolution, flight time/range) that we require.”

The document also cited other factors including cost-effectiveness of purchase, use, and maintenance, as other reasons to choose DJI vs. other brands.

“Thus far, we have not found another viable device that meets those requirements for the cost-effectiveness of the DJI Mavic Pro,” according to the document.

The Air Force’s Special Tactics operational units currently use a total of 15 DJI Mavic Pro drones across eight Special Tactics Squadrons.

The new purchase specifies that the Air Force wants Platinum versions of the Mavic Pro this time around.

According to the DJI company, the Mavic is a series of tele-operated compact quadcopter drones for personal and commercial aerial photography and videography use. The DJI Mavic Pro Platinum is a newer model of the revolutionary Mavic Pro version, offering improvements including 30-minute flight time and a 60% noise power reduction, which is made possible due to new FOC sinusoidal driver ESCs and 8331 propellers.