Following stringent restrictions by the US government that have essentially blacklisted Chinese drone manufacturers from the US market, US drone makers are now filling the huge void and thereby shore up their worth.

One of the companies that have benefitted tremendously from the Chinese ban is Skydio, and this is further confirmed with its recent valuation of more than a billion dollars. This is a fallout of the freezing of drones from China by several security agencies, as a result of what the US government insists is credible evidence that Chinese drones and their components are covert tools for espionage by the Chinese government.

The military and security segment of the market is most affected by the ban. However, a few Chinese drone makers are still active in the market, although they can only provide consumer-grade devices. Chinese drone giant DJI remains a strong player in the consumer market, although it could have fared better if the restrictions were not in place.

Skydio is expected to supply its high-end military-grade drones to the US Army and other security agencies, as well as several other applications.

However, market analysts are of the view that the consumer segment of the drone market holds huge potential in the next few years. It is seen as the fastest-growing segment of the drone market and holds up to 35 billion dollars in four years. Therefore, pursuing investment along these lines may hold some hope for Chinese drone makers, as they continue to adapt to the seeming unfair regulatory and uncertainty,- driven business climate put in place by the government.

These Chinese firms may just be unfortunate to be caught in the crosshairs of a battle of wits between the Chinese and US government.

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Cape, a cloud platform for remote drone operations, has confirmed it will drop support for DJI drones. As part of the decision, effectively immediately, the company also launched the Cape Preferred Partner Program (P3), a new initiative aimed at ensuring the security of commercial drone integrations across industries.

Skydio has been named as the first company to officially join Cape P3, just months after they were selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to take part in the Short Range Reconnaissance program for the U.S. Army. The companies said that together, they hope to collaborate on next-generation technology that is both easier to use and more capable than ever before.

It said the program is a direct result of increasing security concerns around the use of drones for public safety and commercial use, and follows the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent warnings regarding security risks related to the use of Chinese-made drones.

With the launch of the new partner program, Cape software will exclusively allow for integration with hardware and enterprise applications from U.S. companies, such as Skydio, or companies from countries with intellectual property treaties with the U.S. As a result, Cape will specifically cease all integration with DJI-manufactured drones, as well as all other drones developed by companies based in China.

UP NEXT: DJI reveals plans to assemble drones in California to assuage US security concern

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