“We want to do as much as we can. I would love to continue to bring on new projects, new programs to the border and try it out, but we want to do it in a responsible way that’s safe,” said Mark Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs.
Mark Ditlevson frames expansion amid budget uncertainty
Ditlevson told Breaking Defense the Pentagon is treating the US-Mexico border as a technology testbed and wants to expand experimentation if Congressional funding permits. The timing is constrained: Congress has passed a continuing resolution to keep the department funded when fiscal 2027 begins on Oct. 1, but that stopgap runs only through early December. Lawmakers are still debating the department’s FY27 budget, including a $1.15 trillion base budget and a separate $350 billion reconciliation package whose prospects “look increasingly unlikely to pass in its current form,” the reporting said. “Obviously there’s major negotiations happening right now,” Ditlevson added, and the department is assessing systems already deployed while eyeing additional options.
Unmanned surface vessels — 10 Lightfish on the Rio Grande, possible Gulf operations
As part of a broader autonomy and network integration effort, the Pentagon has deployed 10 Lightfish unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to monitor the Rio Grande river area, a presence that has yielded “positive feedback” on those sensor platforms. Ditlevson said the department is eyeing expansion that could push USVs into the Gulf of Mexico “to help with the narco‑trafficking fight,” though an exact timeline for a Gulf deployment is “up in the air.” He described an ambitious vendor vision: “In a perfect world, I would love to see a vendor — whatever R&E [Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering] chooses for unmanned surface vessels — to go from the mouth of the Rio Grande across to Key West, and [whoever] can do that mission with the right size platform and the capabilities that we require.”
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End the scrambleAerial drones, automation, and unmanned ground vehicles
Ditlevson said the department is working with new aerial drones and pursuing greater automation so those systems could replace some manned aircraft or reduce the number of drone operators required on the ground. He cautioned that automation faces “a lot of challenges” — notably the need for obstacle‑avoidance systems and “different guardrails to be able to work within the US airspace.” On land, unmanned ground vehicles are also being considered; Ditlevson framed them as potential “force multiplier[s] … that makes us more effective,” but only if they are a “good fit” and deliver strong returns where thousands of service members are augmenting the Border Patrol mission.
Directed‑energy weapons, the Safer Skies Act, and Section 130i
The article traces recent policy changes that have eased hurdles for counter‑drone testing on US soil. Congress passed the Safer Skies Act as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, a move the reporting says equipped state and local officials with new counter‑drone tools and authorities and expanded Section 130i, which “outlines where and how DoD can conduct counter‑drone operations on US soil.” Ditlevson described Section 130i as the avenue for “the ‘cutting of red tape’ for outfitting military installations on US soil with new tech to defend against drones.”
The push to deploy directed‑energy systems — high‑energy lasers and high‑powered microwaves — has intensified because small drones present an attractive target set and such weapons could offer a lower price‑per‑kill than traditional munitions. But past legal restrictions and safety rules constrained tests inside the United States; the new authorities eased some of those constraints, Ditlevson said.
Customs Border Protection, the Department of Defense, and the FAA
One high‑profile incident highlighted the risks of new technology deployment. In February the FAA abruptly shut down airspace around El Paso airport; the shutdown later tied to “a miscommunication between federal agencies about the use of a counter‑drone laser by Customs and Border Protection, on loan from the Army.” Ditlevson said measures have been put in place to prevent a repeat and emphasized coordination: “I feel like we’re fully integrated with the FAA in our efforts as we develop these different technologies,” and while “earlier this year, I understand there was that one situation that occurred, … that has been remedied, and I feel very confident in what we have for systems in place.”
Next steps and the unanswered operational timeline
The department appears set to continue a phased approach: evaluate systems already deployed at the Rio Grande, expand sensor architecture integration next year, and pursue automation of aerial platforms and targeted use of unmanned ground vehicles where they serve as force multipliers. Ditlevson specifically named an intent to fold Joint Interagency Task Force‑401’s Counter‑Unmanned Aerial Systems sensor architecture into border operations next year and to integrate that data with DOD’s Maven Smart System and Lattice, or Customs Border Protection’s Minotaur. Yet the pace at which those plans move from concept to sea, shore, and air will depend on the FY27 budget outcome and on resolving remaining technical and airspace safety challenges — including robust obstacle‑avoidance and interagency coordination frameworks.
The record the Pentagon is building at the border is thus both operational and regulatory: testing hardware and wiring it into software backbones, while navigating funding deliberations and the practical lessons of earlier missteps. Whether vendors can meet Ditlevson’s “perfect world” line and move from the mouth of the Rio Grande to Key West, and how fast the department can scale sensor and software integration, remain concrete milestones to watch.
