US looks to expand use of canoe-sized drones to deter migrant crossings
- The Pentagon is considering expanding its autonomous surveillance boat fleet from 10 vessels by as many as 50 to increase coverage along the Rio Grande and Gulf of Mexico following a successful pilot program.
- Initiated in January, the pilot program helps relieve strain on Coast Guard cutters and crewed aircraft patrolling the border with Mexico as cartels increasingly push into coastal waterways to avoid tighter border security.
- Each 11-foot, 340-pound Lightfish vessel costs roughly $240,000 and feeds real-time data into Palantir Technologies' Maven Smart System and Anduril Industries' Fortress platform, alerting border units.
- Data shows the drones assisted in 452 detections, 350 apprehensions, and 100 turnbacks monthly; M. Roosevelt Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs, called them "cost-effective solutions."
- Beyond the Rio Grande, officials are studying deployments to form a radar fence between Texas and Key West, with plans to test the vessels in the harsher Pacific Ocean near San Diego.
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Pentagon Eyes 50 More Autonomous Patrol Boats After Rio Grande Border Test
The Pentagon is considering a major expansion of small autonomous surveillance vessels after a 10-boat pilot program helped authorities detect hundreds of attempted border crossings ... The post Pentagon Eyes 50 More Autonomous Patrol Boats After Rio Grande Border Test first appeared on [your]NEWS.
The Independent
The Independent (US)US wants to add more canoe-sized drone boats to its robotic fleet
Seasats' 11-foot, 340-pound Lightfish is a low-profile autonomous vessel that costs roughly $240,000 and can be launched from a boat ramp or the back of a pickup truck
The Pentagon is examining the expansion of the use of autonomous maritime surveillance drones on the Rio Grande River and in the Gulf of Mexico, after these canoe-sized aircraft helped the authorities detect and deter illegal border crossings and drug trafficking under a pilot program started in January, said an American official, according to ...
The Pentagon could extend the use of autonomous surveillance boats on the Rio Grande River and in the Gulf of Mexico, after these canoe-sized ships helped authorities detect and deter illegal border crossings and...
The Pentagon is considering expanding the use of autonomous maritime drones in the Rio Grande and Gulf of Mexico, following the results of a pilot program to detect illegal crossings and drug trafficking. The fleet of 10 test vessels could be expanded by up to 50 more. The small Lightfish vessels are unmanned, solar-powered and can operate for months, transmitting real-time data to US authorities. In an average month, they have contributed to 45…
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