U.S. Army tests anti-drone technology on the border with Mexico, as cartels use drones for smuggling

The U.S. Army is testing anti-drone technology in the U.S.–Mexico border area, in an effort to counter the growing threat of the cartels’ use of drones and to absorb the rapid battlefield innovation from Ukraine’s war with Russia, as Reuters reports.

At U.S. Northern Command’s “Falcon Peak” exercise, held in September in Arizona, defence companies demonstrated radars, interceptor drones, autonomous weapons systems and other technologies for detecting, tracking and destroying small unmanned drones, according to Reuters’ reporting.

According to Army officials, the cartels’ drones are mostly off-the-shelf commercial models, used for surveillance linked to smuggling and human trafficking. General Brian Filler said the Army has detected 378 drone incursions in the last 30 days and that the trend is rising, Reuters reports.

The Army has shot down 11 cartel drones with lasers since this technology was deployed on the southern border in August; officials stress that the cartels’ drones do not compare with the battlefield ones in Ukraine or the Middle East, but the border offers a real testing environment outside the laboratory.

The demonstrations featured Anduril’s “Ghost” drone, Teledyne FLIR’s radar-and-camera system, Allen Control Systems’ automated anti-drone machine gun “Bullfrog” and an interceptor drone from Powerus — a company that was listed on the stock exchange on Thursday through a merger with a company backed by President Donald Trump’s sons. General Matt Ross said, according to Reuters’ reporting, that the aim is to replicate the rapid adaptation cycle seen in Ukraine.