Pentagon eyeing tech testbed expansion along US-Mexico border

The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the Threat Systems Management Office operate a swarm of 40 drones to test the rotational units capabilities during the battle of Razish, National Training Center on May 8th, 2019. (U.S. Army Photo by Pv2 James Newsome)

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has turned the US-Mexico border into a testbed, of sorts, for emerging tech like high-energy lasers and unmanned systems. It’s the kind of experimentation the DoD would like to expand, a senior official told Breaking Defense — if there’s sufficient funding on the way from lawmakers.

“We want to do as much as we can. I would love to continue to bring on new projects, new programs to the border and try it out, but we want to do it in a responsible way that’s safe,” Mark Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs, told Breaking Defense Wednesday.

“Obviously there’s major negotiations happening right now” on the Hill, “so I can’t speak to any sort of future budget,” Ditlevson said.

Congress has passed a continuing resolution to keep the department funded when fiscal 2027 starts on Oct. 1 through early December. But the fate of the Pentagon’s FY27 budget is very much up in the air as lawmakers debate the details of the $1.15 trillion base budget along with another $350 billion reconciliation deal that looks increasingly unlikely to pass in its current form.

So for now, Ditlevson said the Pentagon is assessing tech it has already deployed and eyeing how it could do more.

For instance, as part of a more comprehensive project looking at autonomy and network integration the department has been monitoring the border area along the Rio Grande river area with 10 Lightfish unmanned surface vessels (USVs).

After receiving “positive feedback” on sensor platforms like the USVs, Ditlevson is eyeing an expansion that could mean pushing USVs into the Gulf of Mexico “to help with the narco-trafficking fight.” An exact timeline for deploying a fleet on unmanned vessels in the Gulf is up in the air.

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“In a perfect world, I would love to see a vendor — whatever R&E [Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering] chooses for unmanned surface vessels — to go from the mouth of the Rio Grande across to Key West, and [whoever] can do that mission with the right size platform and the capabilities that we require,” he added.

Up in the air, Ditlevson and his team have also been working with new aerial drones and are now looking for ways to better “automate” them so that they can replace some of the manned aircraft, or reduce the number of drone operators required on the ground.

“There’s a lot of challenges with that because you have to have obstacle avoidance systems in place and different guardrails to be able to work within the US airspace,” he added. “How do we do that? We’re working through it right now.”

On the ground, there might also be an opportunity to test out new unmanned ground vehicles but only if those robots are a good fit and “force multiplier … that makes us more effective.”

“If we’re going to have 1,000s of service members augmenting the border patrol in this mission, they need to be as effective as possible,” Ditlevson said. “And one way of doing that with really targeted investments that have great return, is through a bunch of these different efforts, and unmanned ground vehicles could potentially be an area that we look at.”

Over on the software side, the department is aiming to take Joint Interagency Task Force-401’s Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems sensor architecture and fold it into the mix at the border next year.

“For me on the policy side, looking at more strategically, I love sensors and they’re great, but they need to be integrated into our operating picture,” he added, noting that integration includes DOD’s Maven Smart System and Lattice, or Customs Border Protection’s Minotaur. “Hardware is awesome, but that software backbone also needs to be invested in, and that’s something in this next year” to expand on.

Lasers And (A Bit Less) Red Tape

The push to roll out new tech and weapons at the border is not without its challenges. Take directed energy weapons.

For decades the US military has been developing and testing high-energy lasers and high-powered microwaves, but they were never quite ready and faced a host of size, weight and power issues. However, the proliferation of small drones has provided a renewed push for those weapons, potentially offering up a lower price-per-kill ratio over traditional munitions.

But testing them out against real-world threats on US soil posed challenges — especially when it comes to legal restrictions and safety regulations.

Over the past year that has changed after Congress moved to combat the growing drone issue with the Safer Skies Act that passed as part of the larger 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. That law equipped state and local officials with new counter drone tools and authorities and also expanded authorities under what’s known as Section 130i, which outlines where and how DoD can conduct counter-drone operations on US soil.

“The policy issues that we’ve had to work through are on the counter-UAS side with high-energy laser systems … [involved] a lot of challenges when this administration came in, policies that have been ignored over a very long time in the counter UAS space,” Ditlevson said. Specifically, he pointed to Section 130i as the avenue for the “cutting of red tape” for outfitting military installations on US soil with new tech to defend against drones.

But it hasn’t been completely smooth sailing. There was a high-profile incident earlier this year. In February the FAA suddenly and mysteriously shut down the airspace around the busy El Paso airport. It later emerged that the emergency was related to a miscommunication between federal agencies about the use of a counter-drone laser by Customs and Border Patrol, on loan from the Army.

Ditlevson said measures have been put in place to keep such a miscommunication from happening in the future. “I feel like we’re fully integrated with the FAA in our efforts as we develop these different technologies,” he said. “Earlier this year, I understand there was that one situation that occurred, but at this point in time, that has been remedied, and I feel very confident in what we have for systems in place.”

2019年5月8日，在拉齐什国家训练中心举行的战斗演习中，第11装甲骑兵团和威胁系统管理办公室操控40架无人机，测试轮换部队的能力。（美国陆军二等兵詹姆斯·纽瑟姆摄）

华盛顿——五角大楼已将美墨边境变成了一个新兴技术的试验场，例如高能激光器和无人系统。一位高级官员告诉《防务新闻》，国防部希望扩大此类试验的范围——前提是国会能够提供充足的资金。

“我们想尽我们所能。我很乐意继续在边境地区推行新项目、新计划并进行尝试，但我们希望以负责任且安全的方式进行，”负责国土防御和美洲安全事务的助理国防部长马克·迪特列夫森周三告诉《防务新闻》。

迪特列夫森说：“显然，国会山目前正在进行重大谈判，所以我无法对未来的预算发表任何评论。”

国会已通过一项持续拨款决议，以确保国防部在2027财年（10月1日开始）至12月初期间获得资金。但五角大楼2027财年的预算命运仍悬而未决，因为议员们正在就1.15万亿美元的基本预算细节以及另一项3500亿美元的预算协调协议进行辩论，而后者目前看来通过的可能性越来越小。

迪特列夫森表示，目前五角大楼正在评估已部署的技术，并考虑如何才能做得更多。

例如，作为一项更全面的自主性和网络集成项目的一部分，该部门一直在使用 10 艘 Lightfish 无人水面艇 (USV) 监测格兰德河沿岸的边境地区。

在收到关于无人水面艇（USV）等传感器平台的“积极反馈”后，迪特列夫森正考虑扩大规模，这可能意味着将无人水面艇部署到墨西哥湾，“以协助打击毒品走私”。在墨西哥湾部署无人水面艇舰队的具体时间表尚未确定。

吸取经验教训，为防空反导系统带来工厂级的速度、适应性和可扩展性

库存减少以及从乌克兰和伊朗吸取的教训，促使人们迫切需要改革制造业。

“在理想情况下，我希望看到一家供应商——无论国防部负责研究与工程的副部长选择哪家无人水面舰艇供应商——都能从格兰德河口一路航行到基韦斯特，并且能够用合适尺寸的平台和我们所需的能力完成这项任务，”他补充道。

在空中，迪特列夫森和他的团队也一直在研究新型无人机，现在正在寻找更好地“自动化”无人机的方法，以便它们可以取代一些有人驾驶飞机，或者减少地面所需的无人机操作员数量。

他补充说：“这其中有很多挑战，因为你必须配备避障系统和各种防护措施才能在美国空域内作业。我们该如何做到这一点？我们目前正在努力解决。”

在地面上，或许还有机会测试新型无人地面车辆，但前提是这些机器人非常合适，并且是“力量倍增器……使我们更有效”。

迪特勒夫森说：“如果我们要派遣数千名军人增援边境巡逻队执行这项任务，他们就必须尽可能高效。而实现这一目标的一个途径，就是通过一系列不同的举措，进行真正有针对性且回报丰厚的投资，而无人地面车辆可能是我们考虑的一个领域。”

在软件方面，该部门的目标是明年将联合跨部门特遣部队 401 的反无人机系统传感器架构整合到边境系统中。

“就政策层面而言，从战略角度来看，我非常欣赏传感器，它们确实很棒，但它们需要融入我们的作战态势感知体系，”他补充道，并指出这种融合包括国防部的Maven智能系统和Lattice系统，以及海关与边境保护局的Minotaur系统。“硬件固然重要，但软件基础架构也需要投入，而这正是我明年要重点关注的领域。”

激光和（少一些的）繁文缛节

在边境地区推广新技术和武器并非一帆风顺。以定向能武器为例。

几十年来，美国军方一直在研发和测试高能激光器和高功率微波武器，但始终未能完全成熟，并面临诸多尺寸、重量和功率方面的问题。然而，小型无人机的普及为这些武器的发展注入了新的动力，使其有望在单位杀伤成本方面优于传统弹药。

但在美国本土用实际行动检验这些方法是否有效应对真实威胁却面临挑战——尤其是在法律限制和安全法规方面。

过去一年，随着国会通过《更安全天空法案》（Safer Skies Act）来应对日益严重的无人机问题，情况发生了变化。该法案是2026财年国防授权法案的一部分。它赋予州和地方官员新的反无人机工具和权限，并扩大了第130i条规定的权限，该条款概述了国防部可以在美国本土开展反无人机行动的地点和方式。

迪特列夫森表示：“我们必须解决的政策问题主要集中在反无人机系统方面，特别是高能激光系统……这在本届政府上任之初就带来了诸多挑战，因为反无人机系统领域的相关政策长期以来一直被忽视。” 他特别指出，第130i条是简化美国本土军事设施配备新技术以防御无人机的途径。

但并非一帆风顺。今年早些时候发生了一起备受瞩目的事件。2月份，美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）突然且神秘地关闭了繁忙的埃尔帕索机场周围的空域。后来证实，此次紧急情况与联邦机构之间就海关和边境保护局使用从陆军借来的反无人机激光器一事沟通不畅有关。

迪特勒夫森表示，已采取措施防止此类沟通失误再次发生。“我觉得我们在开发这些不同技术的过程中，与美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）的合作非常紧密，”他说。“今年早些时候，我了解到确实发生过类似情况，但目前问题已经解决，我对我们现有的系统非常有信心。”