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Mexico Government: No Laws Violated in Drone Crash
 Adriana Gómez Licón - El Paso Times
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December 18, 2010
Mexican authorities said Friday that Mexico did not violate any laws when one of its drones smashed into the ground in El Paso earlier this week.
Officials at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., said U.S. agencies approved the crash landing Tuesday.
Mexican Embassy spokesman Ricardo Alday said the drone had a mechanical failure as it was flying near the border in Juárez on narcotics surveillance.
"The drone was flying in the border area as part of coordinated operations, and a breakdown forced it to descend on the U.S. side," Alday said. "All this was done with the coordination and in tune with U.S. authorities."
The drone, known as an Orbiter Mini, crashed in a backyard of an El Paso home Tuesday evening. The site was on Craddock Avenue, near the intersection with Yarbrough Drive -- about three-quarters of a mile from the border.
U.S. Border Patrol agents retrieved the drone and turned it over to investigators with the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security investigators gave the damaged drone back to the Secretariat of Public Safety, or the Mexican federal police, at an international bridge, said Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero. He did not know which border crossing the agents used to return the aircraft.
The National Transportation Safety Board was still investigating the crash Friday.
"We are still collecting data at this time," said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway. "Why it crashed is still under investigation."
Cordero said the drone designed by Aeronautics Defense Systems was very small.
"It can probably fit inside a truck," he said.
The lightweight aircraft is used in military and homeland security missions, according to the developer's website. It can be used for reconnaissance missions, low-intensity conflicts and urban warfare.
Officials at the Mexican Embassy could not confirm how long Mexico has been using the Orbiter Mini. They said the government will not disclose how many drones patrol in Mexico, citing national security concerns. Mexican news outlets have reported the purchase of drones by the government in the past two years.
The Mexican federal police have stayed tight-lipped about the crash or the use of drones.
Police spokesman José Ramón Salinas said the agency has not briefed him about the crash.
He did not confirm whether the drone belongs to the federal police.
"I cannot confirm anything," he said.
The office of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, is in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash, said spokesman Vincent Perez.
Robert M. Chesney, a professor who specializes in national security and law at the University of Texas at Austin, said there are many types of drones. Some could carry surveillance cameras and be armed. He said he doubts that the Mexican drone was armed.
"The universe is pretty big in terms of what it may be doing," Chesney said.
The government may be using it as a surveillance strategy to have an "eye in the sky."
"The Mexican government has a tremendous security problem," Chesney said. "They need as much ability to monitor aerially."
On the U.S. side, U.S. drones patrolling the border is a familiar concept since 2005, when Predator B's were deployed to the border in Arizona. The Department of Homeland Security will start using another drone in the Texas border in 2011, said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website.
The Predator B is much bigger than the Mexican drone that crashed in El Paso. Predators weigh 10,000 pounds and have a 66-foot wingspan. They are the size of a small jet.
One of these drones crashed 10 miles north of Nogales, Ariz., in 2006.
Adriana Gómez Licón may be reached at agomez(at)elpasotimes.com.
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