Mexico and U.S. Launch Anti-Drone Operation Near Tijuana
Original reporting: El País México
What happened
Mexico’s Defense Secretariat says the bilateral Águila Alta operation will use fixed and mobile counter-drone equipment along the Tijuana-San Diego border through September 21.
Reporting and context
Mexico and the United States have launched a joint operation aimed at detecting and disabling commercially available drones used by criminal groups along the Tijuana-San Diego border, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense.
El País México reports that the initiative, called Águila Alta, is the third bilateral exercise of its type this year and is scheduled to continue through September 21. Each country will deploy personnel and fixed and mobile counter-drone equipment on its own side of the border.
The Defense Secretariat said the operation is intended to prevent drones from being used to monitor authorities during human-smuggling and drug-trafficking activity. The announcement follows increased concern about the use of unmanned aircraft by organized-crime groups in Mexico and near the U.S. border.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data organization, cited by El País, reported that U.S. authorities detected more than 35,000 drone flights near the border and that criminal drone use has been documented in 17 of Mexico’s 32 states since 2021. El País attributes those figures to ACLED.
Criminal groups have also used drones in conflicts in Guerrero, Michoacán and Sinaloa, according to the report. In some cases, authorities and researchers have documented drones used for surveillance; in others, groups have allegedly adapted them to carry improvised explosives.