Chinese Drones Go From Forbidden to Flying Targets for America’s Elite

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The constant march of technological advancement and its implications for law enforcement can often seem daunting, but finally we’ve got some good news: confiscated Chinese-made drones are now being used as moving targets for the United States’ military elite.

In what could be described as a red-blooded green initiative, the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has requisitioned over 500 of Chinese drones that were confiscated in Florida and headed to the incinerator and have now repurposed them as pilotable live-fire shotgun targets for Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Army Rangers, Marine Raiders, and other elite units under the SOCOM umbrella.

According to a recent report by Police1, the drones will be used in a three-day counter-drone competition designed to simulate realistic training against the small quadcopters that have seen deployment in recent theaters of war, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine. 

In many ways, it is a natural development in the cycle of warfare technology: as the enemy incorporates new technology into its arsenal, we must incorporate new tactics to face it. If enemy forces are using cheap drones in large numbers, American operators need practical ways to knock them out of the sky.

Nate Ecelbarger, a Marine reservist who helped found the United States National Drone Association (USNDA), told the outlet that this will be the largest counter-drone destruction event ever held in the United States. 

Ecelbarger said that the seized drones were graciously donated by the state of Florida after it had previously banned Chinese-made platforms due to security concerns. 

Ecelbarger explained that the goal is to inject a sense of urgency into America’s counter-drone efforts, which have been bogged down by bureaucracy and slow acquisition cycles. 

While there are more effective methods of disabling drones, shotguns are being tested as a last line of defense for when electronic measures fail. 

SOCOM operators will begin collecting the drones from a Florida warehouse, but before any of them take to the skies, their software will be “flashed” to ensure they cannot ping their location back to China. A SOCOM spokesperson confirmed the donation and the upcoming events, noting that the command is continuing to refine tactics and training for unmanned and autonomous threats.

Florida, which already hosts multiple military commands including SOCOM itself, has been pushing hard to establish the state as a hub for drone development and testing. 

Officials have eased restrictions on outdoor experimentation and are even making state lands available for military training as part of a broader effort to boost American-made drone capabilities and cut reliance on foreign manufacturers. 

All this comes in the wake of increasing incorporation of drones into everyday practical training for military, police, and first responders. State leaders argue that turning seized Chinese drones into training tools is a practical solution to stay competitive in both the market and the battlefield.  

After all, if you are going to ban the platforms for security reasons, repurposing them as the world’s most expensive skeet targets is at least getting some value out of the deal.