US Army deploys ground-based radars to combat rising drone threats at border Battle against Mexican drug cartels continues

The US Army is contributing ground-based radars to assist in spotting and tracking drones as part of the ongoing build-up of US military support along the US-Mexican border.

Mexican drug cartels have been increasing their use of weaponized uncrewed aerial systems, as well as unarmed drones for surveillance and smuggling. 

The Department of Defence released images showing members of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum in New York, training with the AN/TPQ-53 and AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radars in Arizona, Caliber.Az reports via The War Zone (TWZ).

The 10th Mountain Division is one of several units from across the US military that have sent personnel and resources to support the enhanced border security mission that began after President Donald Trump took office in January.

One image’s caption reads, "HHB Divarty [Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, Division Artillery,] 10th Mountain Division raise their drone detection capabilities at the southern border." It also notes that "US Northern Command is working together with the Department of Homeland Security to augment US Customs and Border Protection along the southern border."

A spokesperson for NORTHCOM told TWZ that "Beyond confirming that the sentinel radar is a C-UAS [counter-uncrewed aerial systems] 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."

The AN/MPQ-64 is a versatile radar system designed to detect various aerial threats, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, and drones, and it can cue air defense systems to engage them.

Mexican drug cartels, increasingly well-armed and equipped, have embraced uncrewed aerial systems and are expanding their use. Originally employed mainly for cross-border smuggling, cartels now regularly use drones for surveillance and attacks against each other and government security forces.

Drone incursions across the US-Mexican border have become routine. "I don’t know the actual number – I don’t think anybody does – but it’s in the thousands," said US Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, head of NORTHCOM and US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), when asked about the issue during a congressional hearing last year.

The Army sending the radars to the border with Mexico now highlights the larger continued gaps just in being able to monitor uncrewed aerial activity, let alone disrupt, disable, or destroy those systems, as well as the threats that cartel drones pose more specifically.

By Tamilla Hasanova