U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Joseph Goterhaythorn, an intelligence specialist, instructs a class on how to operate a Titan SkyView Man Portable Version 3 (SVMPv3) counter unmanned aerial system used to detect drone threats during a training exercise in Nogales, Ariz., May 9, 2026. (Dept. of War photo by U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Destiny Perez)
TAMPA, Fla. — The southern border of the US has turned into a breeding ground for counter-drone innovation, according to Commander of US Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot.
“We’ve made the southern border a literal and a figurative sandbox,” Guillot, who also serves as commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, said Tuesday here at the annual SOF Week exposition.
Through Joint Interagency Taskforce 401 (JIATF 401) — the Army-led organization aimed at protecting the homeland from counter drone threats — he explained, the US military is inviting industry partners to the border to show off their tech aimed at taking down adversary drones.
“We tell all of the vendors, if you’re willing to bring it down to the southern border, we’ll put it to use. We’ll tell you if it works, if it does, we’ll probably buy it,” Guillot said. “If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you exactly what you need to work on, so we can buy it potentially at scale, and therefore we have hundreds of systems down there or components of systems that are the beneficiaries of lessons learned from other regions.”
