New Toys For The Drug Warriors

$100 million for machines to detect ultralight aircrafts that smuggle drugs into the United States.

Stopping drug smugglers on the ground is one thing. You can build a fence, send more Border Patrol agents and put up more cameras. But it's a whole other thing to stop Mexico's cartels from using tiny planes that are nearly impossible to catch.

That's why the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is spending $100 million on new sensors that can detect ultralight aircraft. The giant contract — awarded to New York defense company SRCTec earlier this month — comes as the cartels have been using more of the planes to elude Border Patrol agents. The cartels also seem to have become pretty good at it. The Air Force has chased them with jets, and the Border Patrol has pursued them with Black Hawk helicopters.