Border protection: seeing drones and crossings across long, remote frontiers
Long-range detection, on-the-move tracking and shared pictures for the air and ground threats that now work together at the border.
For: Federal, state and tribal border security agencies; port-of-entry and land-management operators
What the paper covers.
CBP detected 42,360 drone flights near U.S. borders in FY2025 and more than 37,000 in FY2026. Most are surveillance: watching patrols, scouting crossings and guiding people and loads.
Border terrain is the hardest detection environment there is: long distances, rough ground, little power or network, and threats that combine a drone overhead with people on the ground.
Source: CBP statements to Cronkite News and Fox News, as reported by DroneXL (Oct 15, 2026).
Recommendations
- Detect air and ground together on one map
- Use mobile, self-powered nodes that self-calibrate and follow shifting routes
- Coordinate every defeat action with the FAA and share tracks across agencies
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