U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas are operating with the Lockheed Martin [LMT]-supplied Indago 3 vertical take-off-and-landing small unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency, says that last month agents equipped with the small drones were able to locate a group of illegal aliens who had run into dense brush one morning after illegally entering the U.S. After locating the illegal aliens, the small UAS team guided agents to their location. That same night, a small UAS team helped locate another 14 subjects and guided agents to them. Over the weekend of Aug. 22-23, agents arrested 67 illegal aliens in six separate small UAS deployments. Small UAS teams have been credited with assisting agents in more than 1,500 apprehensions in the RGV sector.
The Department of Homeland Security
Science and Technology Directorate plans to award a task order to the Univ. of Maryland for the TEVUS database portal development and COVID-19 studies to improve the understanding of terrorism and targeted violence in the U.S., and effectively managing and mitigating risk, and effectively maintaining core mission functions as COVID-19 affects organizations and communities. The task order is being awarded under an existing Basic Ordering Agreement with the university, which runs the DHS S&T Center of Excellence for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and the Responses to Terrorism.