Anduril Industries on Monday announced the launch of its Extended Range Sentry Tower (XRST), a new version of its autonomous sensor tower system that has been used by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for several years to automatically detect potential illegal activity along portions of the U.S. border.
The XRST was developed to meet the agency’s requirement for longer-range detection. Anduril said the suite of sensors integrated atop an 80-foot relocatable tower can detect, classify, and track objects of interest up to 7.5 miles away, including more than five miles autonomously, with clear line of sight.
CBP has deployed well over 100 of Anduril’s standard Sentry Towers, which have a 1.5-mile range. The company said hundreds of the towers are deployed worldwide.
Anduril said CBP in November 2023 deployed a pilot XRST in Texas that is currently aiding operations. CBP is acquiring more XRSTs with further deployments expected in 2024, 2025, and beyond, Anduril said.
The sensor suite on the XRST includes electro-optical and medium wave infrared cameras, radar, communications nodes, and edge compute.
CBP already deploys a long-range integrated camera and radar tower system along portions of the southwest border through Elbit America’s Integrated Fixed Towers (IFTs) that can see more than 10 miles with clear line of sight. The agency also uses the short and medium-range Remote Video Surveillance System provided by General Dynamics
[GD] in certain border areas. Elbit America is part of Israel’s Elbit Systems [ESLT].
In September 2023, CBP awarded Elbit, GD, and Advanced Technology Systems Company contracts to provide new and upgraded border security surveillance towers under the Integrated Surveillance Tower (IST) Consolidated Tower and Surveillance Equipment Program (Defense Daily, Sept. 11, 2023). The program is potentially worth $1.8 billion.
Anduril told Defense Daily their XRST towers are being procured to support IST program requirements.
The autonomous Sentry Tower systems feature Anduril’s artificial intelligence-based Lattice platform that uses computer vision, machine learning, and mesh networking to fuse real-time data into a single operating picture. CBP says the autonomous capabilities mean fewer agents are needed to operate the systems.
In addition to the standard Sentry Tower and the XRST, Anduril’s Sentry family also includes long range, maritime, mobile, and cold weather variants.