In September 2019, residents of Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, once again took up arms as a self-defense militia to protect their city and families as they faced attacks from Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). Since that time, war has raged.
Breitbart Texas recently obtained an intelligence report detailing how, in April 2020, the cartel used small airplanes to drop explosives on the civilian militias. Mexican authorities deployed aerial surveillance as a deterrent. The CJNG then transitioned to small drones able to fly undetected on conventional radar.
Recently, two drones were seized inside a CJNG armored vehicle located in Tepalcatepec. They were found abandoned after a failed attack. The drones were loaded with C-4 explosives and ball bearings capable of remote detonation.
The report also cites a Mexican Attorney General report of a previous seizure of three armed drones in Puebla, Guanajuato, where the CJNG planned to use their use on the Santa Rosa Del Lima Cartel.
Drones in cartel wars are nothing new. They first came to the battlefields by the Gulf Cartel first for surveillance tasks in 2013. More advanced capabilities later emerged with long-range flights and aftermarket optics. Today, all significant cartels are using some form of drones in defensive and offensive capabilities.
Drone use is referred to as third-dimension tactics. In this context, gunmen are learning a new craft as a precision weapon system.
More concerning are the cartels’ use of third-dimension tactics that go unnoticed by too many government agencies. Cartels have large budgets to cover the costs of drone technology advancements and have a proven track record of being early adopters of new battlefield tactics.
Jaeson Jones is a retired Captain from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division and a Breitbart Texas contributor. While on duty, he managed daily operations for the Texas Rangers Border Security Operations Center.
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