Cartel drone operators have spent years watching American law enforcement from above. They've tracked patrol movements, searched for gaps, guided smugglers, and carried drugs across the southern border.
Some Mexican criminal groups have gone further, using drones to drop explosives on police and military forces inside Mexico.
The Department of War is now giving American border defenders a stronger answer.
CACI International received a contract to deploy SkyValor, a mobile counter-drone system designed to detect, track, and stop hostile unmanned aircraft. The company completed operational testing and is moving the system into full-rate production. From their press release:
CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that it was awarded a contract by the Department of War (DoW) to deploy SkyValor, CACI’s advanced drone defense system, at the Southern Border. The deployment will support a broader national security effort to counter the growing threat of hostile drones and strengthen homeland defense in high-priority operating environments.
“Drone threats are evolving quickly, and they are challenging the way we protect our forces, borders, and critical infrastructure,” said John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer. “SkyValor gives defenders the advantage with earlier warning, faster decisions, and precise defeat of hostile drones with low-to-no collateral impact. With successful operational evaluations complete, we are moving SkyValor into full-rate production to deliver this capability at the speed our customers need.”
Under the contract, CACI will deliver SkyValor as a transportable drone defense system that can be deployed rapidly where protection is needed most. SkyValor combines advanced sensing, automated defeat capabilities, and decades of counter-drone experience to find, track, and stop hostile drones—including cellular-enabled drones—before they can threaten national security operations. SkyValor gives warfighters and homeland defenders the precision needed to stay ahead of rapidly evolving drone threats.
SkyValor underwent an operational demonstration at the Cannon Air Defense Complex near Yuma, Ariz., on May 13. U.S. service members and CACI personnel operated the system from a tactical center before the government approved its border deployment.
Mobility gives SkyValor much of its value. Border threats don't remain in one canyon, desert crossing, or smuggling corridor. Operators can move the transportable system when cartel activity shifts, rather than waiting for criminals to return to an area protected by fixed equipment.
The system combines sensors with automated defeat capabilities and can confront conventional drones as well as models connected through cellular networks. Those cellular links allow operators to use commercial 4G and 5G service instead of the standard radio signals older jamming systems were built to disrupt. From the Army Recognition Group:
Unlike fixed-site air defense equipment, SkyValor is designed as a highly transportable counter-UAS system that can be rapidly deployed to shifting operational hotspots. This mobility allows border security units to reposition the system as threat patterns evolve, providing commanders with greater operational flexibility than is available with permanently installed counter-drone infrastructure.
According to CACI, SkyValor integrates multiple sensing technologies with automated engagement capabilities to provide a complete detection-to-defeat solution. The system is designed to identify, classify, track, and neutralize hostile unmanned aircraft before they reach protected assets or personnel. One of its distinguishing features is its ability to counter drones operating over conventional radio-frequency links as well as increasingly common cellular-enabled drones, which exploit commercial mobile networks for command and control, making them more difficult to disrupt using traditional electronic warfare systems.
The ability to counter cellular-connected drones reflects an important evolution in the counter-UAS mission. As drone operators increasingly leverage 4G and 5G communications rather than standard radio control frequencies, many legacy electronic attack systems face growing limitations. Systems capable of detecting and defeating these newer communication architectures are becoming increasingly valuable for both military operations and homeland security missions.
CACI President and CEO John Mengucci said SkyValor provides earlier warning, faster decisions, and precise defeat options with little or no collateral impact. CACI hasn't publicly disclosed the contract's value, the number of systems involved, or their exact deployment locations. Operational security explains the silence, but taxpayers should eventually receive enough information to judge whether the program works.
Cartel drone use has moved beyond theory. Federal prosecutors handled a 2015 case involving 28 pounds of heroin carried across the border near Calexico, Calif., by drones.
This is believed to be the first international narcotics seizure by U.S. law enforcement involving the use of drones by Mexican drug traffickers, according to Homeland Security Investigations.
The defendants entered guilty pleas before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Lewis to possession of heroin with intent to distribute and aiding and abetting, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841 and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2. The offense involved approximately 28.55 pounds of heroin.
According to their guilty pleas, on or about April 28, 2015, Elias drove Valle to pick up packages of drugs that were smuggled by drones near an agricultural field in Calexico near the border. Using a drone controller, Valle picked up packages of narcotics and placed them inside a bag. They placed the bag in the trunk of their vehicle and were subsequently stopped by U.S. Border Patrol agents. As part of their plea, defendants admitted that they knew that there were narcotics inside the bag, but did not know the quantity or type of narcotics inside the bag.
“With border security tight, drug traffickers have thought of every conceivable method to move their drugs over, under and through the border,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “We have found their tunnels, their Cessnas, their jet skis, their pangas, and now we have found their drones.”
The scheme showed how quickly inexpensive commercial aircraft could become smuggling equipment.
The threat has grown more violent since then. The Justice Department stated in January that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has used drones to drop explosives on Mexican law enforcement. From the DOJ press release:
CJNG is one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations operating in Mexico and is responsible for exporting tonnage quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, and illicit opioids into the United States. CJNG was designated by the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) for conducting intimidating acts of violence, including attacks on Mexican military and police with military grade weaponry, the use of drones to drop explosives on Mexican law enforcement and assassinations or attempted assassinations of Mexican officials.
Gomez Nunez, aka “Delta 1” and “Maximo,” is the reputed leader and commander of Los Deltas, a violent enforcement and assassination cell of CJNG. Mexican authorities arrested Gomez Nunez in December 2025. He is one of 37 Mexican nationals who arrived in the United States on Jan. 20, 2026 following their expulsion by Mexico.
“Securing the largest transfer to date of fugitives from Mexico to the United States is another victory in the Department of Justice’s battle to eliminate transnational criminal organizations and secure our border,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Mexico’s use of its National Security Law to transfer these 37 fugitives ensures that justice will neither be delayed nor denied. With great thanks to our law enforcement partners and the Government of Mexico, the Department of Justice intends to move swiftly to prosecute each fugitive to the fullest extent of the law.”
This transfer marks only the third time that Mexico has used its National Security Law to expel fugitives to the United States. It is also the largest such transfer of fugitives to occur—the first transfer, on Feb. 27, 2025, involved 29 fugitives, and the second, on Aug. 12, 2025, involved 26 fugitives.
A system capable of surveillance or drug delivery can also carry a destructive payload.
President Donald Trump's border policy has focused heavily on barriers, agents, removals, and pressure against the cartels. SkyValor adds protection in a domain criminals have exploited while Washington concentrated on the ground.
Technology won't secure the border by itself. Agents still need clear authority, reliable intelligence, enough personnel, and fast coordination between the Departments of War and Homeland Security.
SkyValor can give them earlier notice and better options when hostile aircraft appear.
The southern border has always needed more than a fence and a patrol vehicle. Cartels adapt whenever enforcement improves, and their drones now face a system built to find them, follow them, and bring their missions to an end.
