Organized crime violence in Mexico has flared-up recently, raising concerns about its spillover into the U.S.
The U.S. Army has deployed advanced ground-based radars along the U.S.-Mexico border to track and spot drones as President Donald Trump escalates his war on drug cartels .With Mexican gangs increasingly using weaponized unscrewed aerial systems for smuggling and surveillance, the military is ramping up its defenses to detect and track such aerial threats.
Pictures released by the Department of Defense on Monday showed personnel of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division training with the AN/TPQ-53 and AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radars in Arizona.“HHB Divarty 10th Mountain Division raise their drone detection capabilities at the southern border,” the caption for one of the pictures read.Its title also notes that “U.S. Northern Command is working together with the Department of Homeland Security to augment U.S. Customs and Border Protection along the southern border.”Detecting aerial threatsThe AN/MPQ-64 is a versatile radar that detects aerial threats like drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and cruise missiles. It also helps guide air defense systems to respond.The AN/TPQ-53, or Q-53, is mainly used to track incoming artillery rockets and shells and pinpoint their source. Though designed for artillery detection, it can also track drones. Both radars are effective at spotting low-flying threats.“Beyond confirming that the sentinel radar is a C-UAS capability organic to 10th Mountain Division, I won’t get into specifics on what other DoD assets may or may not be at the border,” a spokesperson for NORTHCOM was quoted by TWZ as saying.Mexican drug cartels have increasingly used drones for surveillance and smuggling, using them against rivals and government forces. In recent times, drones have become a primary weapon in cartel warfare.Organized crime violence in Mexico has flared up recently, raising concerns about its spillover into the U.S.The US has reported a surge in incidents of drone incursions along the southern border, heightening concerns about threats to the country’s military bases and critical infrastructure. Swarming drone activity over Langley Air Force Base in 2023 further raised these concerns.Tightening the noose“I think all eyes were, rightfully, overseas, where UAVs were being used for one-way attacks on U.S. and coalition forces,” he said.Despite growing threats, U.S. defenses remain limited. General Gregory Guillot, head of NORTHCOM and NORAD, acknowledged on CBS News this weekend that the drone threat outpaced the U.S. military’s ability to detect and track it.“The threat in the U.S. probably caught us by surprise a little bit.”When asked whether the U.S. could currently detect a swarm of drones flying over or into Langley’s airspace.“At low altitude, probably not with standard FAA or surveillance radars,” Guillot admitted, underscoring the importance of deploying Army radars near the U.S.-Mexico border.While the U.S. and Mexico have long worked together to tighten the noose around cartels, the U.S. president has taken a more aggressive approach, calling for military strikes against them.In February, The Trump administration designated two of Mexico’s main fentanyl producers as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that could pave the way for military action.At the center of Trump’s crackdown is the fentanyl crisis, which has claimed over 450,000 American lives in the past decade. The US President has made dismantling this network a top priority in its fight against drug trafficking.
Drones Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking Mexico Border US Fentanyl Crisis
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