Australia’s national security conversation often focuses on critical minerals, undersea cables, sovereign cloud and satellite capabilities. Yet one area remains underexamined: the quiet, high-resolution eyes flying above our farms. Drones are increasingly used to survey farmland. They measure soil health, water use, crop stress and harvest progress. They’re becoming essential for farmers. Most, however, are made by Shenzhen-based DJI, the dominant global drone supplier. This raises a key question: who else might be gaining insight from these operations? Chinese drones are on their way towards ubiquity over Australian farms. But they’re not there yet, and we can, and should, contain and regulate their use before they are.
Eyes over the paddock: farm monitoring with Chinese drones is a national security risk (Jason Van der Schyff – The Strategist)
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