Roger writes, >> Drug Cartel Now Assassinates Its Enemies With Bomb-Toting Drones >> >> https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36013/mexican-drug-cartel-now-assassinating-its-enemies-with-improvised-explosive-toting-drones > > > It's always interesting to look back and see what a > summation-interpretation-and-modest-extension of knowledge > a few years ago said about things ... > http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/Drones-E.html#AHLD > > .. Although media attention is easily gained for terrorist uses .. [Roger > gets an 'F': I omitted competition among > crime gangs.]
Thanks Roger, it’s apparent you accurately nailed an aspect of our future in this regard. However, an F is being a little hard on yourself? Many might say there’s little difference between a terrorist gang and a criminal gang ... mainly just respective targets perhaps? Cheers, Stephen _______________________ > Mexico's drug cartels are notoriously well armed and equipped, with some > possessing very heavy weaponry, including armored gun trucks sporting heavy > machine guns. > > Now at least one of these groups appears to be increasingly making use of > small quadcopter-type drones carrying small explosive devices to attack its > enemies. > > This is just the latest example of a trend that has been growing worldwide in > recent years, including among non-state actors, such as terrorists and > criminals, which underscores the potential threats commercially-available > unmanned systems pose on and off the battlefield. > > A civilian self-defense militia in the city of Tepalcatepec, in Mexico's > southwestern Michoacan state, reportedly recovered two dozen explosive-laden > quadcopters from a car that a team of sicarios – cartel hitmen – had > apparently abandoned, possibly after a failed or aborted hit, on July 25, > 2020. The bombs attached to the drones consisted of Tupperware-like > containers filled with C4 charges and ball bearings to act as shrapnel. > > The vehicle and its contents were said to be tied to the Cártel de Jalisco > Nueva Generación (CJNG), or Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which has its main > hub in neighboring Jalisco state, but exerts control over a wider swatch of > territory. This includes areas much further down Mexico's southwestern > Pacific coastline and along the Gulf of Mexico on the opposite side of the > country. > > CJNG first emerged in 2009 as an offshoot of the Milenio Cartel and has since > waged a particularly violent campaign against many of Mexico's other drug > cartels, as well as Mexican authorities and civilian self-defense > organizations, growing in size and scope in the process. As of July, American > authorities estimated that CJNG was responsible for the movement of > approximately one-third of all drugs from Mexico into the United States. It > has also been working to expand its operations into Europe and Asia. > > That revenue has clearly translated into new weapons, vehicles, and equipment > for the CJNG's sicarios and other footsoldiers. In July, the cartel released > a particularly striking video of a convoy of camouflage-painted trucks, > pickups, and SUVs, some with mounted weapons and very visible add-on armor, > together with heavily armed personnel in tactical gear, that all looked more > like a military unit than a criminal gang. > > These personnel, who all shouted of the nickname of their top boss, Nemesio > "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, throughout the footage, reportedly belong to > a "special forces" contingent within the cartel's overall force structure. > This video followed a failed CJNG assassination attempt against Mexico City's > police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch in June. Harfuch was wounded in the shootout > and two of his bodyguard's died. > > CJNG's growing resources have also translated into its new aerial > capabilities. There were reports in April that CJNG had been dropping > improvised explosive devices from small, conventional manned aircraft in > attacks on members of the Tepalcatepec self-defense militia. The cartel > apparently dropped this tactic quickly after Mexican authorities stepped up > aerial surveillance in the region and has since shifted to using the > diminutive drones. > > Quadcopters with explosives believed to belong CJNG were recovered in the > city of Puebla, in the state of the same name, southeast of Mexico City, in > April, as well. Mexican officials said they believed those had been destined > for attacks on the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel in Guanajuato state to the > northwest. The discovery of those drones led to raids that found more > quadcopters, as well as various electronics and bomb-making supplies, > including more C4. > > It's not surprising at all that CJNG, especially, has turned to small > unmanned systems as a means of carrying out its various violent campaigns > throughout Mexico. Mexican cartels, among other criminal groups, have already > been using them to carry drugs over walls and past other barriers, as well as > conduct surveillance. There have been more sporadic reports of other cartels > using small explosive-armed drones since at least 2017, too. > > The barrier to entry when it comes to crafting small bomb-carrying quad and > hexcopter-type drones is notably low, in general. This is something The War > Zone has highlighted on multiple occasions in the past, which makes the > concept particularly attractive to non-state actors. > > In 2018, a group opposed to dictatorial Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro > attempted to assassinate him at a public rally using a commercially available > multi-rotor drone system. This came years after ISIS terrorists had very much > brought the concept to an actual battlefield in Iraq. > > Small drones of various kinds of improvised munitions had steadily > proliferated among terrorists and other armed groups in Iraq and Syria since > then. Russia's Syrian outpost at Khmeimim Air Base has been subjected to a > regular stream of drone attacks since 2018. > > In July, authorities in the Iraqi capital Baghdad recovered a quadcopter > drone with a very purpose-built-looking looking bomb underneath in a > neighboring near the heavily fortified Green Zone area that is home to > various government buildings and Embassies, including that of the United > States. Iranian-backed militias often use these adjacent areas to stage > rocket attacks on the U.S. Embassy compound. > > These are just a small number of the readily available examples of this > tactic being employed. In fact, when it comes to the danger of drones being > used for gangland assassinations, Japanese authorities warned back in 2015 > about Yakuza families doing exactly what CJNG is doing right now in Mexico. > > Even larger nation-state militaries are starting to leverage the relative > simplicity of hobby-like quadcopter drones as a starting place for more > complex weaponized systems, including designs capable of operating > cooperatively in autonomous swarms. Turkey is now putting such a drone system > into production, which you read all about here. > > This reality has left the United States, among others, scrambling to catch up > when it comes to developing countermeasures. The U.S. military, as a whole, > has been investigating a wide array of different counter-drone technologies > to handle these lower-tier threats, ranging from jammers to directed-energy > weapons, including both lasers and high-power microwave beams. > > "I argue all the time with my Air Force friends that the future of flight is > vertical and it's unmanned," U.S. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of > U.S. Central Command, said at a public event in June. "I'm not talking about > large unmanned platforms, which are the size of a conventional fighter jet > that we can see and deal with, as we would any other platform. I'm talking > about the one you can go out and buy at Costco right now in the United States > for a thousand dollars, four quad, rotorcraft, or something like that that > can be launched and flown," he added. "And with very simple modifications, it > can make made into something that can drop a weapon like a hand grenade or > something else." > > CJNG's recent activities only underscore that there is a serious need for > countermeasures off the battlefield to safeguard VIPs, critical > infrastructure, and more from spying and potentially dangerous harassment, as > well as deliberate lethal attacks. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security > identified the need for some kind of mobile counter-drone capability as an > "emerging requirement" just this week. > > If this cartel successfully adds small armed drones to its already > significant arsenal, and shows that they can be useful on a more regular > basis, it could easily lead to an explosion of other criminal groups in the > country, and elsewhere, adopting this tactic, as well. > > Contact the author: [email protected] > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > -- Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected] T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W. Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
