Drug Trafficking And Drones

Drone technology has introduced new tools to a vast array of criminal organizations seeking to use them for malicious purposes, including for drug smuggling and to sneak contraband into prisons. Organized crime groups represent ruthless and well-financed illegal international businesses quick to use drone technology to achieve their aims, according to an October 2025 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

This is particularly apparent in Central and South America, where criminal groups are using drones regularly to attack military and police forces. Violence has risen sharply in Colombia over the past few years, with drug traffickers deploying drones to monitor drug crops, ambush rival groups and attack military and police forces in a rising tide of bloodshed steadily assuming the nature of an anti-government siege.

It is not unprecedented for organized crime groups to effectively transform into insurgencies by using military tactics and technology against governments. What has altered the nature of criminal insurgency is the use of drones and autonomous systems for reconnaissance and lethal strikes.

Drones are now being used across Latin America to drop not only explosives but hazardous chemical payloads, to ambush law enforcement and military units, and to terrorize and coerce local civilians, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. These groups are now venturing into counter-drone warfare tactics, even deploying jammers to thwart government drones.

A New Approach To Operations

This is the arena where SOUTHCOM’s new autonomous warfare command is poised to operate, centralizing control of an array of unmanned systems for use across its wide-ranging area of operations.

“USSOUTHCOM intends to capitalize on next-generation capabilities like unmanned platforms and AI integration to enhance the efficacy of future operations to counter Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTOs), with our regional partners,” Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, told Forbes.

Donovan added that drug trafficking organizations pose a national security threat not only to the United States but to all nations in the Western Hemisphere.

“Their drugs generate hundreds of billions of dollars that fund campaigns of terror, violence, and corruption,” Donovan said. “Their illicit activities destabilize the region, and their poison kills thousands of Americans annually.”

Surveillance Drones For Sea Patrols

Over the past year, surveillance drones have proved effective at helping intercept drug smugglers at sea. A VTOL, or vertical take-off and landing, drone assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in tracking drug smuggling vessels across open water using continuous autonomous surveillance.

Use of the drone resulted in a record-breaking seizure of illegal drug shipments totaling $362 million offloaded at Port Everglades, Florida last November in an event attended by Administrator Terrance Cole of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The drone – Shield AI’s V-BAT – was photographed with law enforcement leaders and U.S. Coast Guard personnel following the major operational milestone.

A SOUTHCOM spokesperson confirmed to Forbes that the new command will expand the use of autonomous sensors at sea.

“Our naval component, NAVSOUTH, through its Fleet Exercise series, has demonstrated significant leadership in employing autonomous sensors such as Saildrones to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness across the region,” the spokesperson said.

“SOUTHCOM and NAVSOUTH have been at the forefront of integrating these innovative technologies, providing valuable operational insights and early successes.”

The spokesperson added that SOUTHCOM’s new autonomous warfare command will expand what NAVSOUTH has accomplished to the combatant command level.

Evolving Tactics And Training Partner Forces

Drug trafficking organizations have already started changing the way they operate due to recent U.S. military actions, according to SOUTHCOM.

“As a result of Operation Southern Spear’s decisive operations, narco-terrorists are responding to our sustained pressure by attempting to shift their tactics, but the operation denies malign actors and their proxies any foothold in the Western Hemisphere,” the spokesperson said.

Drug trafficking organizations use illegal activities and violence to exert and establish control. SOUTHCOM will deny their ability to establish that control by disrupting their operations, the spokesperson explained.

“USSOUTHCOM imposes total systemic friction on drug cartels and terrorist networks using various tactics, including the use of autonomous systems.”

Part of this friction consists of joint U.S. training with regional partner forces to strengthen the authority of local governments and their ability to uphold their legal structures that are being undermined by criminal hierarchies.

SOUTHCOM has focused intensely over the past year on training partner forces across Latin America in the use of drone technology and in mounting well-coordinated tactical responses to violent threats that criminal insurgencies present.

On March 3, SOUTHCOM announced the start of joint military operations against drug trafficking organizations operating in Ecuador. The U.S. Navy also conducted joint exercises in the Pacific with Ecuador’s air force and navy last month.

While SOUTHCOM did not disclose which specific unmanned systems will be used by the command due to operational security, its stated commitment to adopt a wide variety of autonomous and semi-autonomous systems will place more urgent demands on operators to learn and practice the ins and outs of human-machine teaming.

Although it is often taken for granted that the evolution of drone warfare is occurring at its fastest tempo in Ukraine, the revolutionary impact of drones on military affairs can no longer be confined to such a narrow scope. Drones have upended the traditional notion of what constitutes a battlefield. The real proving ground for drone warfare might be less of a battlefield than a global contest of willpower between those trying to uphold laws and those trying to subvert them.