Chinese drones to be restricted in Canada

 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s federal police force, has imposed restrictions on the use of Chinese-made drones. The RCMP currently has about 973 Chinese drones, which makes up about 80% of its total drone fleet. The police force said in a statement to the Senate National Security Committee that Chinese drones pose a number of safety and security risks. Due to these restrictions, the drones will only be used for non-sensitive operations.

These Chinese drones are currently limited to activities such as locating missing persons, car theft, and community policing. However, the RCMP said that these drones will not be used for highly classified activities such as emergency response teams, VIP protection, border protection operations, and joint investigations with U.S. authorities. Currently, 232 drones from France, the US and Belgium are used for these important operations. The RCMP noted that replacing the Chinese drones would cost more than 30 million Canadian dollars, while non-Chinese drones cost about twice as much.