Drone News: DJI Takes DoD to Court, DJI Mini 4 Pro Gets SDK, and Two Teens Saved by a Drone

Welcome to your weekly UAS News Update. We have three stories for
you this week. First, DJI takes the Department of Defense to
court over its "Chinese Military Company" label. Second, the
popular DJI Mini 4 Pro gets a huge update enabling third-party
app support. And third, drones play a crucial role in rescuing
two lost teenagers in Colorado.





First up this week, DJI is pushing back legally against the U.S.
Department of Defense. On March 14th, DJI filed a motion in
federal court challenging the DoD's designation of the company as
a “Chinese Military Company,” or CMC. This label comes under
Section 1260H of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act,
which targets companies supposedly linked to China's military.
DJI argues this designation, first applied in October 2022 and
reaffirmed this past January that it is arbitrary, lacks
substantial evidence, and harms its business significantly. The
company points to terminated contracts and state-level
restrictions in places like Florida and Arkansas that limit or
ban the use of their drones by public agencies. DJI is asking the
court to declare the DoD’s actions unlawful and remove them from
the CMC list. They claim the DoD ignored a detailed delisting
petition submitted last July and failed to provide public
justification for the listing as required by recent amendments.
DJI contests the DoD's claims about state ownership, stating that
its founder and early investors hold the vast majority of stock
and voting rights, with state-owned entities having minimal
shares. They also dispute the idea that having a National
Enterprise Technology Center status links them to the military,
noting companies like Volkswagen also hold this civilian-focused
status. Next up, there's some exciting news for DJI Mini 4 Pro
owners. DJI has released a major update to its Mobile SDK, that's
the Software Development Kit, specifically version 5. This update
now includes support for the Mini 4 Pro, which is a pretty big
deal. What this means is that third-party developers can now
create apps that work directly with your Mini 4 Pro. We're
talking about popular apps like Litchi, DroneDeploy, and Drone
Harmony potentially offering features like advanced flight
automation, custom waypoint missions, and better mapping
capabilities. This really unlocks some pro-level functionality
for a drone that weighs under 250 grams. Now, there's one
important catch you need to know. To use these third-party apps
via the MSDK, you *must* be using the DJI RC-N2 controller –
that’s the one that uses your smartphone as the screen.
Unfortunately, the DJI RC 2 controller, the one with the built-in
screen, doesn't have MSDK support enabled for the Mini 4 Pro at
this time. DJI hasn't said if or when that might change. This
update also added MSDK support for the professional Matrice 4D
cinematography drone and the Matrice 4TD industrial drone. Next
up this week, a great story showing drones in action saving
lives. Two teenagers got lost while hiking near Carpenter Peak in
Colorado's Roxborough State Park last Saturday evening. They did
the right thing: they called 911 and stayed put. Douglas County
Search and Rescue, along with Colorado Parks and Wildlife,
responded around 8:30 p.m. As ground crews started hiking in, the
DCSAR drone team lead, Darren Keralla, launched a drone. Despite
windy conditions, the drone quickly located the teens, who were
flashing a light while sheltering under trees. Using the drone's
GPS data (lat/long), rescuers could pinpoint their exact
location, streamlining the effort. It’s another fantastic example
of how drones are becoming invaluable tools for search and rescue
operations.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/2-lost-teenagers-rescued-with-drone-aid-at-roxborough-state-park/https://dronedj.com/2025/03/21/dji-mini-4-pro-msdk/https://dronexl.co/2025/03/21/dji-court-chinese-military-company-label/