Florida banned Chinese drones two years ago citing national security concerns.
The state forced police and fire departments to trash $200 million in perfectly good equipment and buy expensive American replacements that didn't work as well.
And Florida just turned banned Chinese drones into target practice for elite troops in one move that exposed the hypocrisy.
SOCOM gets 500 confiscated drones for largest counter-drone destruction event in US history
More than 500 Chinese-made drones confiscated under Florida's controversial 2023 ban will become target practice for U.S. Special Operations Command next month.
The quadcopters seized from Florida police and fire departments are headed to Camp Blanding for the "Military Drone Crucible" scheduled December 4-6.
Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and Marines will use shotguns to blast the drones out of the sky during training exercises focused on clearing rooms and striking enemy convoys.
"It will be the largest counter-drone destruction event ever held in the United States," Nate Ecelbarger, president of the United States National Drone Association, told Bloomberg News.¹
The previous record came in September when electromagnetic weapons took down 49 drones at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
Florida's donation to SOCOM headquarters in Tampa marks an unexpected twist for equipment Governor Ron DeSantis claimed posed grave security threats to first responders.
If these drones really were dangerous Chinese spy machines, why is SOCOM flying them at military training facilities?
Florida's $200 million disaster
The approved manufacturers list published by the state in December 2021 included exactly five companies—Skydio, Parrot, Altavian, Teal Drones, and Vantage Robotics.
These were the same Blue sUAS companies that pushed for banning Chinese competitors.
When the ban took effect in April 2023, it grounded an estimated $200 million worth of taxpayer-funded equipment.
The Broward Sheriff's Office had to shelve 63 drones that cost $300,000.
Miami-Dade police and fire rescue grounded 41 drones worth more than $200,000.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office faced replacing 19 of its 25 drones at a cost of millions.
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Colonel Robert Allen told lawmakers his department had five failures with approved American drones in 18 months.
In that same period, their DJI drones had zero failures.
"I'm not going to let one officer risk his life or her life because somebody thinks that these things talk to China," State Senator Tom Wright argued during committee hearings.²
The University of South Florida was supposed to analyze the confiscated Chinese drones and publish findings by summer 2024 proving they were security threats.
https://twitter.com/djirumor/status/1992314339836227796?s=20
Eighteen months later—complete silence.
No report. No press release. No academic papers. Nothing.
Meanwhile, those same "dangerous" drones are about to be flown at one of America's most secure military installations.
Trump cuts red tape while Florida created it
The timing couldn't be more ironic.
President Trump signed executive orders in June slashing regulations to unleash American drone dominance and help the U.S. compete with Russia and China.
"You've got to cut the red tape out," Emil Michael, the undersecretary of Defense for research and engineering, told NewsNation in August.³
"A lot of the regulations around what you could build and how you could build it, and even how you could test it were limited in the last administration," Michael explained.
Trump's executive order directed the Pentagon to prioritize U.S.-manufactured drones while accelerating domestic production to achieve "dominance" in the global drone arms race.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo in July rescinding "restrictive policies that hindered production and limited access to these vital technologies."
The Trump administration recognized what Florida lawmakers refused to acknowledge—America needs to rapidly scale up drone production, not create artificial barriers that cost lives.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1993300153948631070?s=20
A Heritage Foundation report released in August warned the U.S. would "in all probability" not win a drone war with China unless domestic production accelerates sharply.
Ukraine is producing and consuming more than 4,000 drones daily, according to May 2025 congressional testimony.⁴
Russia collectively produces millions of cheap drones each year.
And Florida spent two years forcing first responders to replace superior equipment with inferior American alternatives that failed five times in 18 months.
Now those confiscated drones will finally serve a useful purpose—teaching elite troops how to shoot down enemy drones threatening American forces.
Florida Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, a former Army Green Beret, said "converting confiscated drones into training tools would give the U.S. a realistic opportunity to study and counter the systems that adversaries rely on."⁵
That's exactly what should have happened from the beginning instead of DeSantis and state lawmakers pretending they were protecting Florida from Chinese spies while really just eliminating competition for domestic manufacturers.
The December training event won't erase the lives endangered when search and rescue teams lost their most capable tools.
It won't bring back the people who might have been found if police still had working drones that didn't fail during critical missions.
But at least those 500 confiscated drones will finally contribute to American national security instead of sitting in a warehouse because politicians played politics with public safety.
¹ Landon Mion, "Florida to use hundreds of confiscated Chinese drones as target practice for US military," Fox News, November 21, 2025.
² Seth Kurkowski, "Today Florida's Chinese drone ban goes into effect, and police agencies are not happy," DroneDJ, April 5, 2023.
³ "Trump Admin Cutting Regulations on Drone Production," KAOK-AM, August 6, 2025.
⁴ "Florida Turns Banned Chinese Drones Into Military Target Practice For Counter-Drone Training," DroneXL, November 21, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
