Predator drones help CBP along all borders

August 24, 2009 - 9:15am
John Stanton

Unmanned aircraft are changing the way the U.S. Customs and Border Protection does business.

Since 2004 Customs and Border Protection unmanned aircraft have flown more than 4,500 hours, adding to the close to 5,000 arrests.

John Stanton is executive director of the CBP's National Air Security Operations and talked about the changes on Monday's Federal Drive.

Stanton explained that the fleet has grown from one to seven, though two are still at the factory and should be deployed within the next six months.

"We base them for take off and landing purposes in Sierra Vista, Arizona and Grand Forks, North Dakota -- one on the southwest border and one on the northern border."

He said the greatest aspect of the drones is that they add endurance to CBP.

"Of course, our border security role is a 24 hour a day, all year long role. Our predators fly for approximately 18 hours per day. That's the endurance of any particular flight. We fly as much as 18 hours. So, we're able to use the predator in pursuing our . . . homeland security roles with great endurance, whereas our manned aircraft usually can only stay aloft for three or four or six hours."

Stanton said the drones currently can fly for about 20 hours before they have to be refueled.

CBP isn't doing the work alone, either. The agency has partnered with others to keep the drones in the air.

"We have been most fortunate in partnering with the U.S. Air Force and others. For example, we have a joint program office with the Coast Guard, so we've been able to train our . . . folks in how to fly the aircraft and also how to work the sensors."

Such partnerships have been beneficial, Stanton said, especially when it comes to sharing best practices.

"We've benefited by attending the U.S. Air Force Ground School for these measures, because that's who operates them further east. Together, we have Coast Guard pilots and CBP pilots who have learned how to fly them so, really, as a department together we're facing this great new technology together."

This makes numbers such as the 5,000 arrests possible.

Stanton said that number includes people who are coming across the border illegally, those who have recently come across the border illegally, and even robots.

"It includes finding ultra-light aircraft, which is kind of like a motorized kite that sometimes drug trafficking organizations have sent across the border."

In addition, the information gathered by drones also helps agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency during natural disasters.

"This aircraft has a synthetic aperture radar on board. We're able to radar map, for example, right before a hurricane landfall and then immediately after and landfall. Then, similar to a CSI episode, we can superimpose these images on top of each other and instantly detect the changes that have occurred before and after."

The information is also given to state and local governments in such situations, as well.

Though the technology is still relatively new, Stanton said the Predators often keep humans out of danger in such situations. It is also often better for gathering the information itself.

"It's much easier to arrange for a Predator to fly over an area, for example, in advance of a hurricane than it is to retask a satellite. It's much more dynamic."

Overall, the drones are helping CBP to carry out its mission and save lives.

"Human smuggling [is a problem] of course, whether it's by boat or by vehicle or by foot. That is a fundamental mission of Customs and Border Protection. For example, if a boatload of folks from Haiti were approaching the southeast of the United States, then it's certainly CBP's mission status to detect that and interdict that."

The Predator is also used for quick follow up if and when a stationary sensor on the ground goes off and has eliminated some false alarms.

"The Predator is usually the first to aircraft to arrive. From its kind of covert vantage point, it's able to detect what happened -- what cause the sensor to go off. It could be . . . wildlife, for example. In that kind of a case, we're able to package the right response forces.

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