In December 2024, the US Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2025. As in years past, this bill sets out the next year’s priorities and rules around military expenditures and other priorities—but the 2025 NDAA includes language of significant importance to the drone industry.

Potential Impact on the Drone Industry

Contained in the NDAA are provisions based on the Countering CCP Drones Act, a bill designed to address potential threats posed by Chinese-made drones. These provisions mandate risk reviews of these drones, including vehicles made by DJI. Under these rules, a panel has one year to investigate whether DJI drones pose a threat to US security. The panel’s findings could result in DJI being added to the Federal Trade Commission list of banned products, meaning they could be prohibited from sale in the US.

Should the NDAA be approved in its current form, drone operators in the US could face enormous challenges. Drones made by DJI and other Chinese firms are widely used in the US, contributing to fields such as agriculture, surveying and mapping, law enforcement, and emergency services. Banning their use could reverse progress in these fields in terms of the safety, reduced overhead, and productivity aerial data provides. 

Opportunity for Upgrades

So, while this is an uncertain time for people who may be forced to change from a platform they have grown used to, there could be an opportunity here. Specifically, now is the chance for operators to upgrade to a system that better suits their actual business needs and future-proofs their drone operations in terms of compliance and safety.

Wingtra offers one of those systems. The company’s Swiss-made system provides stunning efficiency, quality, and reliability for surveying and mapping projects, as well as other applications, no matter the size or complexity level—and it is on the Blue-UAVs list, making it fully compliant with relevant regulations.

In fact, customers have said time and again that Wingtra’s system more than doubles their productivity across survey and mapping projects. Due to its VTOL design and high efficiency, it has also made gathering GIS information possible across a range of cases where it wasn’t possible before. Additionally:

  • Wingtra is laser focused on survey and mapping applications—from its top-of-the-line payload selection, to its easy and versatile field setup and functionality, to its automation and high-accuracy data capture across any size project.
  • The drone is super safe, automated, and reliable, reducing the need for re-flight down to the bare minimum.
  • It’s fully compliant with US regulations and well known among many DOT customers already, as well as professionals working on sensitive government projects with Army Corps, FAA and more.
  • It’s not just hardware, it’s an entire end-to-end solution that is constantly developing to be more and more automated and less and less cumbersome to use—inviting less tech-savvy people to achieve sophisticated, survey-grade data capture.

Integration and Adaptability

The WingtraOne drone is integrated with WingtraCLOUD, a seamless software that includes fool-proof planning tools for even the most complex mapping areas, plus fast cloud processing with lots of intuitive organization and sharing tools.

The Wingtra solution is a typically Swiss one in terms of quality, durability, and reliability. And since a huge number of Wingtra customers are from the US, the company is very focused on their satisfaction, experience, challenges, and concerns, including those that are regulatory based. The result is that Wingtra is now trusted by 11 Department of Transportation branches in the US, with several more in final stages of bringing the Wingtra solution in-house. 

For example, the Alabama DOT uses the Wingtra solution and particularly likes to use the oblique payload to map highways without shutting down traffic. They’ve also brought the latest MAP61 payload onboard to map Part 77 airport approach surfaces and will be using it for roadways due to its higher resolution combined with oblique configuration.

In addition, Wingtra has many customers working on Army Corps projects and sensitive projects across the US. Some have even said they switched to Wingtra after researching alternative solutions in anticipation of the bill passing. A lot of these customers already use multirotors, but for mapping and surveying larger areas, they find they can save time and resources using Wingtra due to its efficiency, ease of use and reliability.

Looking Ahead

No matter what happens with the 2025 NDAA, it is important for all drone operators to be prepared for change, understand their options, and look for improvements in efficiency, reliability, and adaptability whenever possible. Wingtra, with its impressive technology and strong track record of success, may be the solution you’re looking for in these uncertain times.