Court upholds DJI’s inclusion on Pentagon Chinese military list

DJI, the company that makes roughly every other commercial drone sold in the US, is locked in a legal battle over whether the Pentagon can label it a Chinese military company. A federal appeals court is now reviewing that designation. The D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments on February 6, 2026, after DJI appealed a lower court’s ruling from September 2025. As of April 2026, the appeal remains unresolved. How DJI ended up on the Pentagon’s list The Department of Defense added DJI to its Section 1260H list in a January 2024 update. That list is essentially a roster of companies the Pentagon considers to be Chinese military companies, and landing on it carries real consequences: it discourages US government agencies and contractors from doing business with the named firms. DJI challenged the designation in court, arguing it has no ties to China’s military apparatus. The company has consistently denied being owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. On September 26, 2025, US District Judge Paul Friedman delivered a split decision. He upheld DJI’s placement on the list, but rejected most of the DoD’s supporting allegations. The court found that the Pentagon had presented “substa...