China has begun imposing sales restrictions on civilian drones that can be modified for use on the battlefield. In a statement issued by China's Ministry of Commerce, the export of drones "not for peace purposes" is now prohibited.
Drones that are prohibited from being sold are those that can fly beyond the operator's line of sight, can fly for more than 30 minutes and can carry a load of more than 7 kilograms. Based on these specifications, drones such as the DJI Matrice designed for professional filming use can no longer be exported.
Since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began last year, DJI stopped selling their drones in both countries. However, DJI drones were successfully smuggled into Ukraine where they were then used by the military to monitor enemy locations before providing GPS coordinates to artillery forces to fire.
On social media, videos of drones with FPS first-person view systems that were originally used for recreational purposes have been modified into kamikaze drones. The first time civilian drones were used on the battlefield was in Syria before they were also used by drug cartels in Mexico to bomb rival factories.