Patrolling borders: Department of Homeland Security plans to fly mere Predator aircraft.

• Author: Jean, Grace
• Position: UNMANNED AVIATION

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.

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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...