U.S. Assessment Claims Drug Cartels Are Making Alarming Drone Advances

The rapidly accelerating use of drones among Latin American drug cartels will significantly complicate the Trump administration’s campaign to halt the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States and eliminate the criminal networks that produce and traffic them, according to a U.S. official familiar with an internal government assessment and others with knowledge of the matter.

Of chief concern, these people said, is the continued exploitation of individuals with recent battlefield experience in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict that has featured near-continuous evolution in drone tactics and technology. The government assessment, which has not been previously reported, warns, too, that counternarcotics authorities in the U.S. and Mexico are dangerously unprepared for the challenges this shift will pose.

In recent years, Mexican cartels have stepped up their use of money and coercion to recruit people, chiefly from Colombia, who have returned from Ukraine and have sought to send their own “affiliates” there, officials said. They noted that the cartels are closely studying the use of alternating radio frequencies and other techniques to evade anti-drone jamming systems and procuring advanced drone models that can stay airborne longer and carry more explosives than the models they currently possess.

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