Miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Components to China

On March 12, 2009, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment charging Yaming Nina Qi Hanson, her husband Harold Dewitt Hanson (an employee at Walter Reed Army Medical Center), and a Maryland company, Arc International, LLC, with illegally exporting miniature Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Autopilots to a company in the People’s Republic of China. The UAV components are controlled for export to China for national security reasons. According to court documents, beginning in 2007, the Hansons began attempting to acquire the autopilots from a Canadian manufacturer in order to re-export them to Xi’an Xiangyu Aviation Technical Group in China. Qi Hanson initially represented that the autopilots would be used for a model airplane civilian flying club in China. When Canadian company officials questioned the utility of autopilots – designed for use on unmanned aircraft – for flying club hobbyists, Qi Hanson claimed that autopilots would be used on US aircraft to record thunderstorm and tornado developments and ice-pack melting rates in the arctic. On or about August 7, 2008, after having fraudulently taken delivery of 20 of these autopilots (valued at $90,000), Qi Hanson boarded a plane in the United States bound for Shanghai, and hand-delivered the items to Xi’an Xiangyu Aviation Technical Group in China. The Hansons ultimately pleaded guilty on November 13, 2009 to felony false statement violations. On February 3, 2010, Harold Dewitt Hanson was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, while his wife, Yaming Nina Qi Hanson was sentenced to time served. The indictment against Arc International, LLC was dismissed. The investigation was conducted by BIS and FBI.