Ashley Hinson: Stronger Supply Chains 'Absolutely Crucial' To Protect Domestic Drone Production

5 months ago

During a House Select Committee on the CCP hearing last week, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) spoke about domestic drone production.

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Transcript

00:00Representative Hinson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing today

00:03and to our ranking member as well. Thank you to our witnesses. I want to tackle

00:07and kind of follow up on a couple of items that my colleagues have already

00:10talked about today, but really the barriers that are hindering our ability

00:15to strengthen and expand U.S. domestic drone manufacturing is what I'm

00:18concerned about and I think that there is a lot of regulatory environment

00:23improvement that we could probably be making. We have to ensure that our supply

00:27chains are secure. That's absolutely critical for our national security. We

00:30talk a lot about the vulnerabilities that exist in the technology right now

00:33coming from China. We have seen though that that that stringent regulatory

00:39burden for manufacturing and purchasing drones here in the U.S. can be

00:42detrimental for our U.S. businesses, first responders. We've got a lot of farmers in

00:46Iowa who use these drones and they're using Chinese-made drones right now. We're

00:50trying to change that obviously, but when foreign companies are importing these

00:53drones from China, we have to make sure that they're secure. We have to make sure

00:57that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:01that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:04that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:08that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:11that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:14that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:18that they're safe. We have to make sure that they're safe. We have to make sure

01:21that they're safe. I really appreciate the question representative. I point to

01:23two things and actually touching on something we talked about earlier,

01:25immigration policy. Uh, you know, we compete for the world's best talent in

01:30A. I. And robotics. Uh, and oftentimes we have to jump through all kinds of

01:35crazy hoops to get P. H. D. S. And master's level folks, many of whom have

01:39studied abroad in the U. S. To receive those degrees. Um, and I think there

01:43may be a misconception. I mean, it's not a zero sum game like one brilliant

01:46scientist or engineer can create 10 or 100 or 1000 other jobs by bringing

01:51good ideas to the table. Um, so that strikes me as a as a real opportunity,

01:56especially at the high end for highly skilled people with unique skills.

02:00There's just a huge multiplicative effect in every industry, especially

02:03leading edge technology industries by making it easier for those folks to

02:07come. And then the second area that I'd point to, uh, is our airspace

02:11regulation. You know, the airspace regulation set the rules of the road,

02:15so to speak for four drones. Uh, historically, the U. S. Has lagged a

02:20little bit behind in permitting more advanced uses of drones being able to

02:24fly beyond visual line of sight, which is incredibly useful for large

02:27infrastructure inspection as well as responding to emergencies and public

02:30safety. I think we're making progress there. But the more that our own

02:34regulations reflect the next century of aviation, the more innovation we're

02:38likely to see in the U. S. And then have that innovation spread to the rest of

02:41the world. How do you think the government can work to help offset some

02:45of the cost? Because we've talked about that discrepancy. What? What more

02:48can we do there? Well, I think the idea that's been floated of placing

02:53tariffs on Chinese drones or increasing tariffs on Chinese drones, or at least

02:56enforcing the tariffs that are already there. I mean, the Chinese are also

02:59trying to get around these by going in through other countries and using those

03:02funds to give end users the ability to purchase U. S. Made products of their

03:07own choosing, I think, is one of the more more natural opportunities that's

03:10gonna leverage our strengths. I'm actually working on a bill right now to

03:13make sure they can't get around tariffs. So we're definitely trying to tackle

03:16that side of it. I think another place where I want to follow up on what you

03:20said, Mr Paul, you talk about the three things that you think we need to work on

03:23trade policy, domestic incentives, collaborations with friends. We know this

03:26is what China is doing right there, trying to continue to manufacture the

03:32raw materials and and they're partnering with other countries and they're

03:37using debt diplomacy to do all that. And I think that's again another attempt to

03:40directly marginalize the United States on the global market. So we talked about

03:45friend-shoring, continuing to develop global coalitions here to strengthen our

03:48supply chains. Are there ways where you think we can leverage our existing

03:52relationships better for mutual benefit? What investments or partnerships do you

03:57think are really necessary to help us achieve this? This is an excellent

04:00question. I think this comes to in play particularly when we're talking about

04:03critical minerals, which are involved in semiconductors and drones and in a lot

04:07of different applications. And there's a lot that we can be doing here to provide

04:12a better environment to get them through both purchases, regulation, regulatory

04:19reform and what-have-you, and also seeking to leverage our allies assets

04:23there. And I think that has to be a big part of the strategy. I think the other

04:27part with respect to shipbuilding where this is important, is that in addition to

04:31direct shipbuilding, China's established a series of ports and logging, as I know

04:36the committee is very familiar, around the world. And we need to enlist our

04:41allies in pushback on that because that's dangerous access to critical

04:47commercial infrastructure and data around the world. And it's not just China, it's

04:52Russia too. They're definitely eyeing, I had a chance to go to Ukraine in

04:56April, and they're eyeing obviously the port at Odessa too. So I mean there's so

04:59much strategy involved with controlling ports when it comes to all of these

05:02technologies. So I'm out of time. I know we could talk about this for hours, but I

05:06appreciate you all being here. Thank you so much. I yield back, Mr. Chair.

Ashley Hinson: Stronger Supply Chains 'Absolutely Crucial' To Protect Domestic Drone Production

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