Year
2023
Operation Area
San Diego Coast
Problem
Maritime drug trafficking and human smuggling exploit vulnerable maritime routes, posing significant threats to national security and public safety. Each year, criminal organizations smuggle hundreds of tons of illicit drugs and thousands of individuals into the United States by sea, often using small, hard-to-detect vessels. These activities, which frequently occur along the US-Mexico border near San Diego, undermine the rule of law, endanger lives, and fuel organized crime networks (Department of Homeland Security, Maritime Response).
To address these challenges, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) explored advanced technologies to enhance maritime domain awareness (MDA) and improve detection along critical corridors and threat vectors. Saildrone has demonstrated its ability to augment maritime security with cost-effective, autonomous solutions that persistently detect and track small vessels often used in smuggling operations—for a fraction of the cost of traditional crewed systems.
Solution
Five Saildrone Voyagers were deployed off the coast of San Diego for a 90-day mission, demonstrating advanced MDA capabilities in detecting and classifying small vessel traffic, including recreational vessels such as pangas. The Saildrone Voyagers were equipped with a pan-tilt-zoom electro-optical and infrared camera, onboard GPU, and machine learning software that integrates sensor data.
During the mission, a strategically deployed four-drone picket along the southern maritime border served as a tripwire, detecting vessels that deviated from expected traffic patterns and enhancing situational awareness for maritime security operations.
Outcome
Saildrone collaborated with CBP operators and evaluators to refine system performance and align the platform with the operators’ most pressing needs. Through an iterative, user-driven development process, radar-tracking algorithms were significantly enhanced, doubling detection range and improving small vessel tracking within weeks. These advancements informed key platform upgrades, including more powerful radar systems, reduced false positives, and improved vessel classification algorithms, all now standard on Saildrone vehicles.
Saildrone Voyagers today deliver unmatched small vessel detection capabilities, reliably identifying traffic over extended distances and outperforming many manned and unmanned systems. This level of performance enables CBP and other law enforcement agencies to effectively monitor and respond to critical maritime activity, including prioritizing specific contacts such as go-fast pangas navigating northbound from Mexican waters toward San Diego.
