Bottom Line Up Front
At this month’s “Victory Day” parade in Beijing, China unveiled a glimpse of the future: tanks, unmanned ground vehicles, and even robotic “wolves,” all fitted with advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors. For years, Washington has watched as Chinese firms dominated the global LiDAR market, assuming the technology was harmless and destined mainly for driverless cars. But, as a new analysis from FDD’s Craig Singletonand Jack Burnham argues, the parade’s displays confirmed that Beijing sees LiDAR as the beating heart of its next wave of military modernization.
Congress cannot afford to treat LiDAR as just another widget or harmless technology. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is integrating LiDAR into platforms that will define tomorrow’s battlefield. Chinese companies – subsidized, directed, and loyal to the Communist Party – are poised to control both the commercial and military ecosystems around this technology. The United States must recognize it as a strategic domain and act accordingly.
Below, we break down Singleton and Burnham’s timely analysis and dive deeper into actionable recommendations for Congress.
Why It Matters
China is embedding LiDAR into its frontline military systems.
- The PLA’s latest parade was not just a show of prototypes, but rather, as Singleton and Burnham argue, it was a bold statement on the future of LiDAR and its importance to China’s military readiness – tanks with LiDAR arrays mounted on their flanks, unmanned vehicles navigating with sensor packs, and robotic scouts carrying commercial LiDAR.
- China is operationalizing LiDAR across multiple platforms. This shift means future conflicts may pit U.S. forces against adversaries with vastly improved situational awareness, autonomy, and targeting precision.
Chinese firms dominate the global LiDAR market.
- Companies like Hesai, RoboSense, Leishen, and Livox (a DJI affiliate) now account for nearly 80% of worldwide LiDAR sales. This dominance was engineered by Beijing through subsidies, industrial policy, and integration with the PLA’s military-civil fusion strategy.
- For U.S. policymakers, this is a repeat of the playbook that made China a near-monopoly supplier of drones. Without action, Washington risks ceding another strategic technology domain to Beijing’s control.
Dual-use adoption creates hidden vulnerabilities.
- LiDAR is not only appearing on Chinese tanks, but also embedded in U.S. cars, mapping tools, and “smart city” projects. Because People’s Republic of China (PRC) law compels companies to cooperate with state intelligence, every civilian LiDAR unit produced by a Chinese firm carries potential risk.
- These sensors can collect massive amounts of environmental and positional data, and their integration into U.S. transportation and infrastructure creates exploitable backdoors for espionage and disruption in a crisis. What appears civilian can be co-opted into Beijing’s military and intelligence apparatus overnight.
America risks repeating mistakes of the past if it doesn’t act now.
- The United States was slow to recognize the strategic danger posed by Huawei’s telecom dominance and DJI’s commercial drone market share. By the time policymakers moved to restrict those firms, they were already deeply embedded in global systems.
- LiDAR presents the same danger. If Washington fails to act, we will face a future where both our military and civilian sectors are reliant on Chinese sensors, giving Beijing both tactical advantage and strategic leverage.
What Congress Can Do
Close the gap in U.S. designations.
- Congress should press the Department of Defense (DOD) to add Chinese LiDAR companies, including RoboSense, Leishen, and Livox to the §1260H list of Chinese military companies. Livox is a subsidiary of an already-listed company, DJI, note Singleton and Burnham. Adding these firms will formally recognize their ties to Beijing’s defense establishment and prevent U.S. investors, contractors, and partners from enabling their growth.
- Endorsed: Sec. 1245 of the Senate-introduced National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires the DOD to review Chinese companies added to other U.S. government watchlists and consider including them on the §1260H list of Chinese military companies. This simple but important reform will harmonize America’s approach by ensuring that entities already flagged elsewhere for national security concerns don’t slip through the cracks. By creating a routine, annual process to cross-check lists, Congress can strengthen U.S. defenses against Chinese military–civil fusion and give policymakers and industry a clearer picture of which companies pose risks.
Protect federal and state procurement.
- Legislation should bar Chinese-made LiDAR from U.S. defense, transportation, and infrastructure projects. Expanding procurement bans at the federal level beyond just the DOD would send a clear signal and, if coupled with incentives for state and municipal compliance, would prevent PRC sensors from burrowing into our public safety systems, highways, and smart-infrastructure grids.
- Endorsed: Sec. 151 of the House-passed NDAA maintains the DOD’s procurement ban on covered LiDAR technologies, including those manufactured in China, and expands it to DOD contractors.
- Endorsed: The Securing Infrastructure from Adversaries Act of 2025 (H.R. 4802), introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), would prohibit the Department of Transportation and recipients of federal funds from procuring or deploying Chinese-made LiDAR and other “covered” technologies. By closing procurement gaps and extending protections beyond the Pentagon to civilian infrastructure, this legislation directly advances Congress’s role in reducing U.S. dependence on adversary technology and securing critical transportation systems.
Expand Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversight.
- Congress can push for an interagency review of Chinese LiDAR firms for inclusion on the FCC “Covered List,” which designates companies that pose national security threats to U.S. communications and data systems. Adding LiDAR suppliers to this list would rightly treat them on par with Huawei and ZTE, signaling that sensors are as strategically sensitive as telecom infrastructure.
Invest in secure alternatives.
- To reduce reliance on China, Congress should authorize new funding streams and initiatives for domestic and allied LiDAR research and development, manufacturing, and deployment. U.S. and allied innovators are capable of competing, but they need support to scale and fend against China’s unfair trade practices. Without greater investments in this space, America risks permanent dependence on Beijing for a technology that underpins both modern warfare and civilian infrastructure.
Demand government accountability.
- Oversight is critical. As Congress holds hearings with and conducts routine oversight of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FCC, among others, it should press them to address existing vulnerabilities and develop a whole-of-government plan to phase out PRC LiDAR. Congressional oversight should raise awareness and create a public record of where America is most exposed.
Additional Resources