TX: 2nd drone to patrol Texas-Mexico border

2nd drone to patrol Texas-Mexico border

Posted: Oct 25, 2011 4:22 PM PDT Updated: Oct 25, 2011 4:22 PM PDT


MCALLEN, Texas (AP) - A second unmanned drone to patrol the Texas-Mexico border for U.S. Customs and Border Protection is scheduled to arrive in Corpus Christi next week.

U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, Michael McCaul and Blake Farenthold of Texas announced the delivery of the long-awaited Predator drone Tuesday.

Officials announced in July that Texas would get a second drone to patrol its 1,254-mile border with Mexico. Along with another planned for Arizona, the drone brings CBP's total to six on the Southwest border.

The new Texas drone will be based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi with the existing one, which also patrolled the Gulf of Mexico.

The Predator can fly for 20 hours without refueling, extending by many hours the surveillance capability of a helicopter. Flight crews control the planes remotely.

http://oneoldvet.com/

http://www.kiiitv.com/story/15874733/2n ... ico-border

. . . Over the last several years, CBP has replaced the OH-6A with the AS-350 A-Star, made by Eurocopter. The A-Stars are the latest short-range, turbine powered helicopter to perform aerial reconnaissance missions, and are equipped with EO/IR sensors and video downlink capabilities.

Texas now has more than 100 air assets patrolling the border, as well as the National Security Operations Center in Corpus Christi, operating P-3 and Unmanned Aircraft Systems. In the first half of fiscal year 2011, air assets in Texas accounted for almost $1 million in seizures and more than 12,000 apprehensions. . .

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-253481.html

C.B.P. News release

CBP Receives Second Predator-B in Texas

Office of Air and Marine Now Operates 8 Unmanned Aircraft Systems

(Thursday, October 27, 2011)

Washington— U.S. Customs and Border Protection today received a second Unmanned Aircraft System Predator-B at the Naval Air Security Operations Center in Corpus Christi, Texas—the first of two UAS’s funded through the FY 2010 Southwest Border Security Bill Supplemental. The UAS will provide critical aerial surveillance for U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed along the Texas-Mexico border.

The CBP UAS Program operates Predator-Bs from operation centers in Sierra Vista, Ariz., and Corpus Christi, Texas—missions from both centers allow CBP to deploy unmanned aircraft along the Southwest border from the eastern tip of California across the common Mexican land borders of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The UAS Operations Center in Corpus Christi supports counter-drug operations in the Western Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, disaster relief and humanitarian support in the Gulf Coast region, and rapid deployment throughout the southern tier of the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere.

Since its inception, the CBP UAS program has flown more than 11,500 UAS hours supporting border security operations and disaster relief and emergency response, including various state governments and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These border security efforts have led to the seizure of approximately 46,600 pounds of illicit drugs and the detention of approximately 7,500 individuals suspected in engaging in illegal activity along the Southwest Border.

For video of the UAS, please see the links below.

( Video: North Dakota Flooding From CBP's Unmanned Aircraft )

( Video: Aerial of North Dakota Flooding )

( Video: CBP UAS Media B-Roll )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Contacts For This News Release
Gina Gray
CBP Public Affairs
Phone: (202) 325-4284

CBP Headquarters
Office of Public Affairs
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Room 3.4A
Washington, DC 20229 Phone: (202) 344-1780 or
(800) 826-1471
Fax: (202) 344-1393

Department of Homeland Security

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/new ... 272011.xml