Recently, a leading Chinese animal feed producer has sparked widespread concern and controversy in the agricultural safety field for using GPS signal jammers to block drones. The move was intended to address the risk of drones carrying the African swine fever virus into farms, but the protective measure caused problems when it interfered with civil aviation flight navigation systems, leading to intervention by regulators and allegations of legal violations.
The pig farming unit of Beijing Davinong Technology Group reportedly deployed GPS jammers to prevent drones carrying the African swine fever virus from entering its farms. The disease, which is harmless to humans but deadly to pigs, caused a major impact on China's pork production last year, triggering market price increases and inflationary pressures. The goal of the jammers was to prevent the illegal spread of the virus through drones and protect the health of the company's farmed animals and production safety.
However, the problem arose when the jammers affected the GPS navigation system of civil aviation flights. According to pilots, they suddenly lost navigation signals when flying over the area, which triggered an investigation and action by the civil aviation authorities. Beijing Davinong Technology Group officially acknowledged the incident on Friday and said their intention was to protect the farm from illegal intrusions, but they also realized that their actions violated relevant radio regulations.
A company spokesperson said: "Although our original intention was to protect our farms, we now realize that our actions violated the regulations. We have handed over the jamming devices and are ready to accept the relevant fines and penalties."
The Chinese government has a zero-tolerance attitude towards the illegal use of jamming devices and called for stricter action against illegal suppliers of these devices. According to relevant regulations, only public security agencies, national security agencies and specialized radio regulatory agencies have the right to use such jamming devices to ensure the safety and protection of public and national interests.
With the exposure of this incident, Chinese regulators promised to continue to strengthen supervision of similar technologies and equipment to prevent similar incidents from happening again and ensure the safety and stability of agricultural production and civil aviation transportation..
