Predator drone cleared to fly border in September

By Jared Janes 

June 23, 2010 

An unmanned aerial vehicle will patrol the state’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico and its coastal areas beginning Sept. 1, members of the state’s congressional delegation announced Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration cleared the surveillance aircraft to combat drug cartels and human trafficking in Texas after determining the remotely operated aircraft posed no significant safety concerns to heavy air traffic in the state, said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection launched the domestic UAV program in 2005 to support law enforcement in policing illegal cross-border activity, but none of the six Predator B drones conducted operations in Texas until earlier this month.

Because Texas accounts for most of the nation’s 1,954-mile border with Mexico, Cuellar said, getting the unmanned aircraft into the state’s skies is critical to any border security strategy.

“These eyes in the skies will be able to find activity along the border and quickly divert personnel to those areas,” Cuellar said. “It’s a smarter view of moving our resources around because you can see it with a bird’s-eye view of the sky.”

CBP began flying a remotely piloted aircraft based in Arizona over a portion of West Texas earlier this month after waiting since 2008 for approval.

The certificate of authorization approved by the FAA on Wednesday will allow CBP to proceed with plans to start operating the unmanned aircraft in September from the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi.

The FAA’s announcement comes only a month after Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, Cuellar and other members of the state’s border delegation asked FAA Administrator Randolph Babbitt to expedite his agency’s approval of the aircraft.

Read more here: http://www.themonitor.com/articles/vehicle-40144-patrol-aerial.html