One Missouri lawmaker wants to ban state government from using drones and parts made in China.
MESA, Ariz.—As the owner of Rekt Drones in Mesa, Arizona, Pete Phimphavong has seen many ups and downs in the seven years that he has been selling, servicing, and test-flying both commercial and recreational drones.
“There’s been a lot of things going on” with the industry lately, Phimphavong said. “Especially with this holiday season.”
“Not only with the drone scare but with the upcoming possibility of tariffs,” he said.
Phimphavong was alluding to President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of 100-percent import tariffs on any country that wants to replace the U.S. dollar—China, in particular.
He said that adding tariffs would make his products more expensive and hurt his business.
Phimphavong is still unsure of how to interpret the most recent reports of unidentified drone sightings across the nation, mainly in New York and New Jersey.
“These things that are up there for five hours—who knows what they are,” he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently announced a no-fly zone over certain parts of New Jersey as a precautionary measure.
On Dec. 16, the FAA, FBI, and Departments of Homeland Security and Defense released a joint statement regarding the ongoing response to some 5,000 reports of drone sightings and 100 leads developed.
According to the statement, thousands of commercial, recreational, and law enforcement drones are in the sky on any given day, and more than a million drones are legally registered with the FAA in the United States.
As of Dec. 2, the FAA said that there were 403,358 commercial drone registrations, 387,355 recreational drone registrations, and 423,047 certified remote pilots.
After examining the technical data and tips from eyewitnesses, the federal agencies say that the sightings so far include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, law enforcement drones, manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars that were mistaken for drones.
“We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast,” the joint statement said.
