Pilot Project Could Lead To More UAV Surveillance Flights

Look. Up in the Sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman.

Nope. It's none of the above. It's a drone, flying along the US-Mexican border. It's part of a test project to see if UAVs can effectively monitor the border for illegal aliens and drug smugglers.

"The UAVs, which have played an important role for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, are under consideration for use by the Department of Homeland Security," said Mario Villarreal, spokesman for the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, in an interview with Reuters.

As part of a test project backed by the Department of Homeland Security, the UAVs patrol a part of the Sonoran desert known as a favorite crossing point for illegal aliens. The HSD says the border has been beefed up quite a bit since the 9/11 attacks and this may be a way of beefing it up even further. Border Patrol agents also use American Eurocopter AS-350 A-Star helicopters as part of the project.

Agents are also setting up "base camps" in the Arizona desert, where they live for a month at a time, patrolling the rugged desert on foot or horseback. "They are basically camping out in an operation that shows what lengths the border patrol will go to protect their homeland. They are away from their friends and family," he said. Villarreal said no decision has been made on whether the government will ultimately use the drones for surveillance.

FMI: www.hsd.gov