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2025-04-06 -Land of the Free
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OK To Shoot Down Cartel Drones Flying Over Border Sought By NORTHCOM Boss
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[TWZ] The push for new authorization to engage drones comes as Mexican cartels are increasingly using them over the border for surveillance and smuggling.
The general in charge of defending U.S. skies from drone incursions wants the authority to be able to shoot them down near the Mexican border. Current law greatly restricts U.S. military counter-drone responses, which you can read more about in our deep dive here.
Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot testified to the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that since President Donald Trump took office, he “proposed…a change to the rule of force.” It would “allow us to shoot down or bring down drones that are surveilling over our deployed and mobile troops…not just that are in self-defense, but anything that’s surveilling and planning the next attack on us within five miles of the border.”
“Because they’re mobile,” U.S. troops on the border are not allowed to take down drones under current law, Guillot, the commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the joint U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), added.
His testimony came as Mexican drug cartels have been steadily increasing their use of weaponized uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), as well as unarmed types for surveillance and smuggling. The issue has been so concerning that the U.S. Army recently deployed ground-based radars along the border to help spot and track drones as part of the continued build-up of U.S. military support there. You can read more about that in our in-depth story here. The Trump administration has made border security one of its major priorities.
The issue of drones flying over the border is not new. As we have reported in the past, pilots have reported seeing and having near misses with them in the skies near Arizona ranges and military bases for years.
Guillot also repeated his call to enable all continental U.S. bases to take action against drones. He also wants to increase the range at which those actions can take place. At present, only about half of the 360 bases in the U.S. – considered “covered installations” – even have permission to defend against drones.
“We’re working with the services and with the [Defense] Department to increase not only the capability but also to expand the authorities,” Guillot explained. “We have to knock out not only aircraft or UAS that are a direct threat, but also that are surveilling over the installation. I’d like to even see it expanded beyond the installation to ensure they can’t see anything sensitive on our bases.”
Expanding the perimeter where counter-drone actions can take place also increases the chances of identifying and capturing the drone operators, Guillot explained.
Guillot testified that he wants increased ability to take action granted under a federal law known as “130(i).” The subsection of Title 10 of the U.S. Code (10 USC 130i) covers current authorities for the “protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft,” including through the use of kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities. It contains a number of specific stipulations and where and when those authorities can actually be employed, which you can read more about here.
Any change in those authorities, which Congress is considering, would be on top of the Pentagon’s counter-drone strategy released in the last days of the Biden administration, which you can read more about here.
As we previously reported, the U.S. is not fielding kinetic and directed energy capabilities, such as laser and high-power microwave weapons, surface-to-air interceptors, and gun systems, to defend domestic bases and other critical infrastructure from rapidly growing and evolving drone threats. Instead, the focus is on electronic warfare and cyber warfare, and other ‘soft-kill’ options, at least for now. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-04-06 03:38||
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File under: Narcos
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Posted by Black Bart Elmineng4757 2025-04-06 12:01||
2025-04-06 12:01||
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