National Defense > Blog > Posts > U.S. border patrol agency to fly maritime version of Predator UAV over the Caribbean...

12/7/2009

U.S. border patrol agency to fly maritime version of Predator UAV over the Caribbean...
Customs and Border Protection soon will begin flying a maritime version of the MQ-9 Predator B Guardian unmanned aircraft system out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Fla. The new aircraft could be in business as early as January, retired Air Force Gen. Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner of the agency’s air and marine division, told National Defense.

CBP is taking delivery of the aircraft today from manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems at a ceremony in Palmdale, Calif. Operational tests will be carried out through January and February with the remotely piloted aircraft beginning to patrol regions of the Caribbean that are known for drug smuggling shortly afterwords, he said.

CBP formed a joint program with the Coast Guard in March 2008 to investigate the possibility of flying a maritime version of the Predator B. CBP currently has five remotely piloted aircraft carrying out surveillance on the southern and northern U.S. borders.

The program will receive a second Predator early 2010 that will be based out of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. There are long-term plans to acquire a third that would fly out of a host nation, possibly in Central America, to patrol the Western Pacific region, he said.

The maritime versions have been adapted for the harsher ocean weather, and have been outfitted with maritime radars and other sensors, he added.

For more details, read January’s Security Beat column in National Defense Magazine.
Posted at 8:57 AM by Stew Magnuson | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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