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unmanned systems
October 2007
Department of Homeland Security Plans to Fly More Predators
By Grace Jean
 When the Department of Homeland Security’s sole Predator crashed during a nighttime mission in the Arizona desert in April 2006, it appeared that unmanned aerial systems were poised for permanent banishment from U.S. airspace. Sixteen months later that dismal prospect has not come to pass. Instead, the skies are clearing for unmanned aircraft.
Just as the military has been increasing the number of drones that are conducting surveillance missions over Iraq and Afghanistan to nab insurgents, the Customs and Border Protection agency plans to fly more Predators over the United States to patrol its borders and coastal areas to catch illegal immigrants and contraband smugglers.
The agency has operated a small fleet of Predator B aircraft in homeland security missions during the past three years, says Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner of CBP’s air and marine office.
Two of the drones are flying border security missions in Arizona, primarily along the U.S.-Mexico border in concurrence with the Army at Fort Huachuca, he says at an unmanned systems conference in Washington, D.C.
Kostelnik expects another Predator to arrive next month. It will initiate an expansion of border security operations into New Mexico and Texas.
As the agency acquires additional drones during the next several years, Kostelnik says his office will deploy those systems to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance across the southwest border. After reaching the Rio Grande in Texas, operations will expand west to San Diego.
CBP also is acquiring two additional Predator Bs to be delivered next year. At least one of those will operate along shorelines and coastal regions.
“We don’t have a maritime variant of the Predator,” says Kostelnik. The office has spoken to the Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration about developing such a variant to potentially fly next year in the maritime environment, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean.
“It is an area which requires attention,” he says.
Next year, the agency plans to conduct a demonstration using a General Atomics aircraft that is loaded with an Israeli sea radar. It will fly through Eglin Air Force Base’s controlled airspace and into CBP’s area of responsibility around Key West and the approaches to Cuba, where there’s a lot of maritime activity, says Kostelnik. Vessels and aircraft from the Border Patrol, Coast Guard and Navy will be stationed in the area to allow officials to see what the opportunities and challenges of such operations might be.
The maritime Predator could be flown in the Caribbean, Northwest, Northeast and in the Great Lakes region, Kostelnik adds. It also would be involved in counter-narcotics missions in southern California.
The agency last month opened a new air marine operations center in Grand Forks, N.D., to fly Predator B missions in the northern frontier beginning in early spring with cooperation from Canadian authorities and the FAA.
There are few physical boundaries between the United States and Canada. Some borderlines cut through farms and one even passes through a library, Kostelnik says. As such, the northern border — and especially the area around the Great Lakes region — requires scrutiny.
“We know very little of what’s going on up there,” he says. The CBP plans an expansion of operations along the northern border, from Bellingham, Wash., to Detroit, where the agency will set up shop on the Great Lakes with the Coast Guard and the Air National Guard units already based there.
At its main air marine operations center in Riverside, Calif., CBP receives aviation radar feeds from across the country, including those from the Defense Department and FAA. The agency will install Ku-band satellite infrastructure at the center to allow it to become a strategic command and control center for unmanned system operations.
CBP, however, has a shortage of pilots to fly the unmanned aircraft, says Kostelnik. The agency will be seeking operators from the Air National Guard.
Predators have logged 1,310 hours on the southwestern border since operations began in October 2005. They have contributed to the apprehension of 3,065 persons and the seizure of 14,240 pounds of marijuana, according to CBP.
The aircraft can be sent out to investigate a tripped sensor in the desert. Or if individuals are attempting to evade pursuing agents, the drones can track their movements, says Kostelnik. “They do things that none of our manned systems can do.”
Predators also hold promise for homeland disaster response. Kostelnik says the agency is working to package its Predator systems and mobile control units into containers that would fit onto the Coast Guard’s C-130s to demonstrate a capability to transport the unmanned assets quickly to a disaster site.
“We needed it on 9/11, clearly we needed it in Katrina,” he says.
Such a surveillance system could patrol large public events, such as the Super Bowl or the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver, he says.
“It makes perfect sense to me, to capitalize on the assets and create for ourselves the capability this year,” he says. “We may not need it — hopefully we’ll never need it. But if we do, I think the Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, and the locals who will benefit from this capability, would feel better if we had this same-day capability.”
Please email your comments to GJean@ndia.org
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