Published September 14, 2026 at 9:25 AM CDT

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Mexico's newest anti-drone operation on the Tijuana-San Diego border isn't the first of its kind. It's modeled directly on a binational exercise conducted five months ago along the Texas border, between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

That first operation ran from March 17 to 31, according to Mexico's Defense Ministry (SEDENA), and established the basic template now being applied in Baja California: Mexican and U.S. forces detecting and disabling drones used by smugglers, each side operating strictly within its own territory under a "mirror operations" framework tied to the bilateral Grupo Bilateral de Implementación México-Estados Unidos.

Unlike the current Tijuana-San Diego deployment, where SEDENA has disclosed the size of the force, 800 troops, and the precise area covered, a five-kilometer stretch near Mesa de Otay, the ministry never released comparable details for the El Paso-Juárez pilot: no troop numbers, no equipment specifics, no results. That earlier operation appears to have functioned largely as a proof of concept, run quietly and evaluated before Mexico scaled the model to a second, larger border corridor.

The Texas test case sits within a broader escalation in drone activity along the border. Mexican officials maintain roughly 165 anti-drone units nationwide, according to General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo and SEDNEA. One recent analysis found about 670 incidents involving armed drones since 2018, with more than 72% occurring between January 2025 and August 2026 alone, a sharp recent acceleration tied largely to cartel infighting in states like Sinaloa and Michoacán.

Texas remains central to the U.S. side of the response as well. U.S. Northern Command's Joint Task Force-Southern Border has neutralized more than 300 cartel-linked drones so far this year, with reports attributed to Department of War officials putting roughly 100 of those in August alone. Since Aug. 24, U.S. forces have gone further on Texas soil specifically, using a high-energy laser system near the Rio Grande Valley to shoot down drones, a capability Mexico's defense secretary has said the country is not yet pursuing for its own side of the border.

SEDENA has not said whether the Tijuana-San Diego operation, running through Sept. 21, has intercepted any drones so far, or when results from the corridor — or a comparison against the earlier El Paso pilot — might be made public.