The world’s largest drone maker, Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), has a year to convince American defense agencies that its products do not pose a threat to US national security.

The Chinese company faces an immediate ban on the use of its products if the US Senate includes language from the Countering CCP Drones Act, which PAST the House in September, on its final version of the National Defense Authorization Act. But the Senate chose to give DJI and Autel Robotics, another Chinese drone maker, a temporary reprieve.

The NDAA, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate on Wednesday, now awaits President Joe Biden’s signature. It includes a provision ordering an “appropriate national security agency” to inspect DJI and Autel products.—including drones and any other communications or video surveillance equipment—to determine if it poses a risk to the US

The agency has one year from the enactment of the NDAA to make its decision. If it is determined that the companies’ products pose a threat, the Federal Communications Commission must place the products on the so-called covered list, which prohibits the marketing and sale of certain devices. Owners of DJI and Autel products can still use devices they purchased before the companies were added to the covered list.

Apart from Russia-based Kaspersky Labs, all equipment currently on the covered list comes from Chinese technology giants, such as Huawei, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hikvision, Dahua Technology, China Mobile International, China Telecom Americas Corporation, Pacific Networks Corporation, and China Unicom Americas.

In a blog post, DJI said it was good news that the Countering CCP Drones Act was not included in the NDAA, but that the “law unfairly singles out drones made in China and does not designate an agency to carry out the necessary risk study.” If no agency accepts that responsibility, DJI products will automatically be added to the covered list, the company said.

Even if someone steps forward to conduct the review, many of the relevant US defense agencies have already taken firm stances against Chinese-made drones.

“The position of the Department of Defense (DOD) is that the systems developed by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) pose a potential threat to national security,” the DOD wrote in a 2021 statement confirming that military agencies are not allowed to use the company’s equipment.

Earlier this year, the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint memo warned that the Chinese government could gather sensitive information about Americans and the country’s infrastructure through Chinese-made drone equipment.

In addition to security concerns, politicians have also targeted DJI for its market dominance. By means of MANY estimatesDJI has controlled at least 70 percent of the US drone market for years.

Advocating for the passage of the Countering CCP Drones Act, the bill’s sponsor, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), said “It is strategically irresponsible to allow Communist China to become our drone factory.”