US Army tests counter-drone tech at Mexican border as cartel drone use rises

The U.S. Army is testing counter-drone technology in the U.S.-Mexico border area, seeking to sharpen its defenses against the growing threat of drone use by cartels and emulate the rapid battlefield innovation happening in Ukraine’s war with Russia.

At Falcon Peak, a U.S. Northern Command exercise held in September in Arizona, soldiers watched as defense firms demonstrated radars, interceptor drones, autonomous gun systems and other technologies designed to detect, track and destroy small unmanned aircraft.

Army officials said drones crossing the southern border are typically systems sold commercially and used by criminals for surveillance linked to their smuggling and human trafficking operations. Brigadier General Brian Filler, deputy commander for operations at Joint Task Force Southern Border, told reporters the military detected 378 drone incursions in the previous 30 days and that the trend was increasing.

“We are seeing largely commercial off-the-shelf available drones,” Filler said, adding that most carry surveillance cameras and are often observed alongside cross-border movements.

The U.S. military said earlier this month it had downed 11 cartel drones using ​lasers since deploying the technology along the southern ‌border in August.

Learning from Ukraine

Military planners are racing to keep pace with lessons from Ukraine, where drones have transformed the battlefield and driven rapid innovation in both offensive and defensive systems.

Military officials caution that cartel-operated drones are not comparable to the sophisticated battlefield ones seen in Ukraine or the Middle East. But they say the border offers a valuable operational environment to test equipment, train soldiers and evaluate how systems perform outside controlled laboratory conditions.

An Opterra drone flies past a tank at the Yuma Proving Grounds during the testing of anti-drone technology by the U.S. military near Yuma, Arizona, on Sept. 22, 2026. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

The exercise highlighted the Pentagon’s growing embrace of venture-backed defense technology firms. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, investors have poured billions of dollars into companies such as Anduril, Shield AI, Saronic and a wave of smaller drone and counter-drone startups seeking military contracts.

Anduril’s Ghost drone was featured in the demonstrations, as well as the radar-and-camera detection system produced by Teledyne FLIR, the “Bullfrog” counter-drone automated machine gun produced by Allen Control Systems and an interceptor drone sold by Powerus, which ​went public on Thursday, merging with a company backed by sons of US President Donald Trump.

Officials said part of their goal is replicating the rapid iteration cycle seen in Ukraine.

“We tend to look at Ukraine and we say, ‘I am so impressed with how quickly they can adapt on a daily or weekly basis,’” Brigadier General Matt Ross told reporters.

“What we should really do is replicate that process.”

美国陆军正在美墨边境地区测试反无人机技术，以期加强防御，应对贩毒集团日益增长的无人机使用威胁，并效仿乌克兰与俄罗斯战争中战场上发生的快速创新。

在9月份于亚利桑那州举行的美国北方司令部“猎鹰峰”演习中，士兵们观看了国防公司演示雷达、拦截无人机、自主火炮系统和其他旨在探测、跟踪和摧毁小型无人机的技术。

陆军官员表示，越过南部边境的无人机通常是市售产品，被犯罪分子用于与其走私和人口贩运活动相关的监视活动。南部边境联合特遣部队作战副指挥官布莱恩·菲勒准将告诉记者，军方在过去30天内探测到378起无人机入侵事件，而且这一趋势还在上升。

菲勒说：“我们看到的主要是市面上现成的商用无人机。”他还补充说，大多数无人机都装有监控摄像头，并且经常被观察到与跨境活动有关。

美国军方本月早些时候表示，自 8 月份在南部边境部署激光技术以来，已用激光击落了 11 架贩毒集团的无人机。

向乌克兰学习

军事策划者们正争分夺秒地吸取乌克兰的经验教训，在乌克兰，无人机改变了战场，并推动了进攻和防御系统的快速创新。

军方官员警告说，贩毒集团操控的无人机与在乌克兰或中东战场上出现的那些精密无人机不可同日而语。但他们表示，边境地区提供了一个宝贵的实战环境，可以用来测试装备、训练士兵，并评估系统在非受控实验室条件下的性能。

2026年9月22日，在亚利桑那州尤马附近的尤马试验场，一架Opterra无人机飞过一辆坦克，当时美军正在那里测试反无人机技术。（Mike Blake/路透社）

此次演习凸显了五角大楼对风险投资支持的国防科技公司的日益重视。自俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰以来，投资者已向Anduril、Shield AI、Saronic等公司以及一大批寻求军方合同的小型无人机和反无人机初创公司投入了数十亿美元。

在演示中，安杜里尔的“幽灵”无人机、泰莱达因FLIR公司生产的雷达和摄像头探测系统、艾伦控制系统公司生产的“牛蛙”反无人机自动机枪以及Powerus公司出售的拦截无人机都亮相了。Powerus公司于周四上市，并与美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的儿子们支持的一家公司合并。

官员们表示，他们的部分目标是复制乌克兰的快速迭代周期。

“我们往往会看着乌克兰说，‘他们每天或每周都能如此迅速地做出调整，这让我印象深刻，’”准将马特·罗斯告诉记者。

“我们真正应该做的是复制这个过程。”