5 ms·

> Cartels routinely use drones to deliver drugs across the Mexican border and surveil Border Patrol officers. Officials told Congress last summer that more than

> Cartels routinely use drones to deliver drugs across the Mexican border and surveil Border Patrol officers. Officials told Congress last summer that more than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet (500 meters) of the southern border in the last six months of 2024. No wonder they mistook one of theirs for one of these.

pjc50 8mo ago
Alternative hypothesis: the reported number of drones isn't real (anything the Trump government says about "cartels" can be assumed to be made up). The military got increasingly on alert, with senior officers pushing to get a shootdown on one of the not real drones. Therefore the laser operators end up firing on the first drone they confirm seeing. Compare the MH-17 incident. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident , which also involved no confirmed actual drone.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- Georgelemental 8mo ago
  [flagged]
  - iso1631 8mo ago
    Yet the US government can't seem to parade the hundreds of drones they are surely catching with the new operating model? It seems 100% of the drones they have shot down are US government ones. Which is it 1) US government is deliberately avoiding the cartel ones 2) US government is completely incompetent and the cartel outmatch the might of the US military 3) The cartel isn't actually using drones 4) The US government have shot down dozens of drones but are keeping quiet about it
  - t-3 8mo ago
    Drones are not perfectly reasonable when semi-trucks filled with literal tons of drugs pass the border every day. They are used to smuggle drugs into prisons, but not really any better than the old hollow tennis ball trick and more trackable as well.
    - JasonADrury 8mo ago
      > not really any better than the old hollow tennis ball trick and more trackable as well. Depends on the size of the prison and it's perimeter, but in many cases yeah.
    - Georgelemental 8mo ago
      Semi-trucks can get inspected, putting the driver at personal risk. With a drone, even if it is intercepted, the operator is safe
- sidewndr46 8mo ago
  isn't this more comparable to the incident where a US Navy ship shot down an Iranian aircraft. They somehow convinced themselves it was a lone attack aircraft coming to intercept them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
orwin 8mo ago
That's such am inefficient, hands-on, loud and dumb way to smuggle drugs across a border this large, this cannot be true. Unless you they are talking about submarines and land RCs, in that case sure, probably.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 8mo ago
  What about model trains?
  - derwiki 8mo ago
    Only works at the Canadian border, Jacob
- smallerize 8mo ago
  Quadrotors are loud, but fixed-wing drones are quieter, more efficient, and have much longer range.
- carefulfungi 8mo ago
  The statements can also be parsed as "we have thousands of detections of an unknown number of drones that are being used by cartels to surveil the border in order to smuggle". The number of drones vs. the number of detections is ambiguous. How detections are counted is ambiguous. Whether drones are physically moving drugs or part of an intelligence network is ambiguous. It would seem entirely unsurprising that cartels are monitoring border enforcement by drone. That's not great, obviously. But different from "thousands of drones are carrying contraband into the US".
  - kgwxd 8mo ago
    There's no reason to believe a single letter or number that comes from these people, and every reason to believe it's completely made up.
    - philipallstar 8mo ago
      Does that include the original story that they shot down a friendly drone?
duxup 8mo ago
I wonder how accurate that number is. Are detected drones just blips on some detection system? Are they even drug running drones, are they even drones at all?
iso1631 8mo ago
Given they have so far managed to shoot down a balloon and a government drone you'll forgive my scepticism.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]

pjc50 8mo ago

Alternative hypothesis: the reported number of drones isn't real (anything the Trump government says about "cartels" can be assumed to be made up). The military got increasingly on alert, with senior officers pushing to get a shootdown on one of the not real drones. Therefore the laser operators end up firing on the first drone they confirm seeing. Compare the MH-17 incident. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatwick_Airport_drone_incident , which also involved no confirmed actual drone.

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
Georgelemental 8mo ago
[flagged]
- iso1631 8mo ago
  Yet the US government can't seem to parade the hundreds of drones they are surely catching with the new operating model? It seems 100% of the drones they have shot down are US government ones. Which is it 1) US government is deliberately avoiding the cartel ones 2) US government is completely incompetent and the cartel outmatch the might of the US military 3) The cartel isn't actually using drones 4) The US government have shot down dozens of drones but are keeping quiet about it
- t-3 8mo ago
  Drones are not perfectly reasonable when semi-trucks filled with literal tons of drugs pass the border every day. They are used to smuggle drugs into prisons, but not really any better than the old hollow tennis ball trick and more trackable as well.
  - JasonADrury 8mo ago
    > not really any better than the old hollow tennis ball trick and more trackable as well. Depends on the size of the prison and it's perimeter, but in many cases yeah.
  - Georgelemental 8mo ago
    Semi-trucks can get inspected, putting the driver at personal risk. With a drone, even if it is intercepted, the operator is safe
sidewndr46 8mo ago
isn't this more comparable to the incident where a US Navy ship shot down an Iranian aircraft. They somehow convinced themselves it was a lone attack aircraft coming to intercept them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

orwin 8mo ago

That's such am inefficient, hands-on, loud and dumb way to smuggle drugs across a border this large, this cannot be true. Unless you they are talking about submarines and land RCs, in that case sure, probably.

2OEH8eoCRo0 8mo ago
What about model trains?
- derwiki 8mo ago
  Only works at the Canadian border, Jacob
smallerize 8mo ago
Quadrotors are loud, but fixed-wing drones are quieter, more efficient, and have much longer range.
carefulfungi 8mo ago
The statements can also be parsed as "we have thousands of detections of an unknown number of drones that are being used by cartels to surveil the border in order to smuggle". The number of drones vs. the number of detections is ambiguous. How detections are counted is ambiguous. Whether drones are physically moving drugs or part of an intelligence network is ambiguous. It would seem entirely unsurprising that cartels are monitoring border enforcement by drone. That's not great, obviously. But different from "thousands of drones are carrying contraband into the US".
- kgwxd 8mo ago
  There's no reason to believe a single letter or number that comes from these people, and every reason to believe it's completely made up.
  - philipallstar 8mo ago
    Does that include the original story that they shot down a friendly drone?

duxup 8mo ago

I wonder how accurate that number is. Are detected drones just blips on some detection system? Are they even drug running drones, are they even drones at all?

iso1631 8mo ago

Given they have so far managed to shoot down a balloon and a government drone you'll forgive my scepticism.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]