US Border Patrol MQ-9 Drone Penetrates Deep Into Mexico

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Tracking cartels? A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) MQ-9 Guardian medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drone flew deep into Mexico, according to public online tracking.

The drone was operating at the behest of the Mexican government, according to the chief of Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

It took off from San Angelo, Texas, at about 4 a.m. Eastern Time and flew more than 800 miles south, including about 600 miles deep into Mexican airspace.

The drone conducted several orbits in an area in the southern state of Mexico, to the west of Mexico City. Sometime after flying over this area, about six hours into the flight, the MQ-9 disappeared off online tracking software.

It is unclear why the MQ-9 took this unusual flight path or where it went after going dark. CBP drone operators are fully aware that they can be tracked online with ease when broadcasting with their transponders.

The area they circled over may have been part of an active collection area or it may not have been, with the aircraft moving to more sensitive locales after it stopped transmitting.

While we don’t know the flight’s objective, those tracking cartels note that the area where the drone did its orbits is the territory of the notorious La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM) cartel.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

HOMELAND SECURITY

As Trump pushes the bounds of military activity on domestic soil, a debate has emerged over a nearly 150-year-old law that regulates when federal troops can intervene in state issues.

Virginia National Guard will mobilize 60 soldiers and airmen to provide statewide logistics and administrative support to ICE, with training to begin later this month.

So? National Guard troops repeatedly rehearsed their role in an operation at a Los Angeles park intended as a show of force against illegal aliens and those protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, a deputy commanding general testified.

WOKE WATCH

More than four months after the Air Force Academy announced it no longer would consider race as a factor in its admissions process, DOJ said a settlement has been reached between the academy and a conservative nonprofit whose years-long lawsuit challenged the school’s now abandoned affirmative-action policies.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Democrat congresswomen, including some military veterans, are demanding Defense Secretary Hegseth apologize and resign after reposting a video about a Christian nationalist church with pastors who advocate for the repeal women’s right to vote, and argue women should not serve in certain combat and leadership positions.

IRAN THREAT – MIDDLE EAST

Israeli settlement plans will ‘bury’ idea of Palestinian state, minister says.

CHINA THREAT

Navy denies China chased off U.S. warship conducting a freedom of navigation operation near Scarborough Shoal.

U.S. deployed two warships in a disputed South China Sea shoal where two Chinese ships collided earlier in the week while trying to drive away a smaller Philippine ship in a high-seas accident that raised alarms about Chinese aggression and safety.

China’s military wants to target U.S. undersea sensor network. Submarines are a major part of China’s naval strategy. And U.S. underwater sensors are a major threat to those subs.

Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) maker Seasats says its naval drone came within meters of Chinese warship during Pacific transit earlier this year.

Chinese-born U.S. Navy sailor betrayed the U.S. on behalf of his birth nation by selling military secrets to a Chinese spy while assigned to a San Diego-based warship.

Anticipating the need to replenish its units during high-attrition combat with advanced adversaries like China, the Air Force is looking to industry for AI-fueled wargaming tools to play out potential scenarios.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Trump warned that there will be “very severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to stop the war against Ukraine after the two leaders meet for a summit later this week in Alaska.

In an ironic twist, President Trump is set to discuss the war in Ukraine with Vladimir Putin at a military base in Alaska that was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War and still plays a role against Russia today.

Russia has announced restrictions on voice calls made on the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging apps, the latest moves by Moscow to tighten its control over the internet.

For the first time, two Italian Air Force F-35 stealth fighters scrambled from Estonia, in response to Russian aircraft under NATO’s Air Policing mission.

Good. European military industrial production in support of Ukraine has overtaken U.S. output for the first time since Russia’s invasion.

NORTH KOREA THREAT

South Korea is looking to develop a new air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM). If successful, the program could see the missile fielded on South Korea’s locally developed KF-21 fighter jet.

North Korea’s military conducted mortar drills, one week before the South and the U.S. are scheduled to kick off the second of their large, annual military exercises.

SPACE THREAT

After delays, Space Force has deployed a satellite designed to demonstrate experimental position, navigation and timing technologies — marking the first successful liftoff for UAL’s Vulcan rocket under the National Security Space Launch program.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

UK’s Royal Navy has demonstrated for the first time that its new Experimental Vessel (XV) Excalibur submarine can be controlled from the other side of the world, with operators in Australia directing the uncrewed submarine while it was submerged in UK waters 10,000 miles away.

Poland to upgrade the country’s 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ Viper fighters to the more powerful F-16V configuration. Poland’s F-16 jets are already some of the most advanced F-16s in Europe.

Japan’s army has finished a monthlong effort to move its fleet of V-22 Ospreys to a new base on the island of Kyushu as part of a military buildup in the country’s south.

Swiss officials said negotiations with the U.S. have failed to resolve a pricing dispute over an order for F-35 fighters, raising the possibility that Bern will have to reassess its planned buy.

US MILITARY

Despite privacy concerns, DOD says new Instagram location tracker ‘poses minimal risk’ to personnel or their families.

Full look at DARPA’s USX-1 Defiant medium-sized drone ship as it gets closer to heading off on a months-long open-water demonstration cruise.

Some Army paratroopers will lose $150 in monthly pay next year as the service reorganizes its airborne force and reclassifies more than 22,000 paid parachutist positions.

For the past five years, Air Force leaders have promoted the idea that Airmen need to be “multi-capable” or “mission-ready,” prepared to step into unfamiliar roles to help accomplish a mission in unfamiliar circumstances.

Space Force revealed new details about its plan for part-time Guardians—and they aren’t like anything the military has seen before.

DOD has a powerful opportunity to help head off future recruiting shortfalls as it embarks on a new program that provides data to states to showcase the armed forces as a career for graduating high schoolers.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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