
An ongoing operational assessment of small unmanned aircraft systems aboard a Coast Guard cutter has demonstrated new ways to help in drug interdiction missions and increase the chances of catching drug smugglers at sea without tipping them off and giving them an opportunity to ditch their contraband and other material, the Commandant of the Coast Guard said on Wednesday.Adm. Paul Zukunft said that “high-flying” aircraft that monitor the long, slender “go-fast” boats used by smugglers to rapidly move their drugs…