CBP taps Anduril for virtual border sentinel system

Federal Computer Week ^ | Jul 02, 2020 | Mark Rockwell

[BeauBo]

Customs and Border Protection plans to deploy up to 200 autonomous surveillance towers as it expands its work with the portable, off-the-grid systems into a program of record.

The towers, supplied by contractor Anduril, are designed as unmanned sentinels along the Southern border with Mexico that operate autonomously in remote areas where grid power is not available.

The agency has been testing the technology for a couple of years. CBP tested four of the towers in the San Diego region in early 2018, and has bought 56 additional towers since, it said in its statement. Ultimately, CBP wants to procure and deploy 140 more in fiscal 2021 and 2022.

In prepared testimony at a February appropriations hearing, acting DHS chief Chad Wolf said that CBP was looking for a $28 million increase to support the rollout of 30 autonomous surveillance towers...

In a statement to FCW, a CBP spokesperson stressed the autonomous towers will supplement, not replace, existing Remote Video Surveillance System (RVSS) and Integrated Fixed Towers (IFT) already in border sections in Arizona and Texas, as well as the border wall.

The autonomous towers, said CBP in a July 2 statement, have a small geographic footprint. CBP agents can break down and set up the towers within two hours, said the agency.

[BeauBo]

A whole other layer of border security, on top of those already going in (barrier, roads and several other Technology Programs.

If these systems have a five mile range to each side (highly likely), than 200 could theoretically span the whole length of the Southern border. They won't likely be deployed like that, but it will be a giant helping of detection and tracking, on top of everything else going in.

One more awesome new capability, that is already fielded and tested (60 systems over the last two years), and is now funded and contracted for complete fielding over the next two years.

Just this one system is an awesome capability upgrade, and it is just one of several awesome upgrades now funded and contracted and deploying massively.

[BeauBo]

These systems are unique in their cutting edge artificial intelligence, that can recognize people, animals and vehicles.

Also, it immediately alerts Officers of intruders directly on their cell phones.

[WildHighlander57]

https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/And%C3%BAril

It’s also the name of the sword that was the defense of the West, in Lord of the Rings.

[bagster]

Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand."

[upchuck]

Sniper bait.

[montaine]

Over-priced, over-hyped junk. Build the Wall.

[usurper]

Over-priced, over-hyped junk. Build the Wall.

We are, this system will help us keep it. Otherwise you will see colonias all over Mexico built out of our border wall material. They will treat it like Home Depo.

[FreedomPoster]

Thanks. I thought it might have been the name of one of the palantirs, but knew it was something from Lord of the Rings.

[Spktyr]

This is in addition to the wall. Also, what good is the wall if there’s nobody and nothing to watch it and make sure it remains unbreached? Do you plan to put a soldier every 30 feet for the better part of 2000 miles?

[Spktyr]

If it’s like red light cameras of the last decade, the housing is proof against everything up to and including .300 Win Mag.

[Rockingham]

Gee, I thought it was the name of an ADD/HD drug.

[FreedomPoster]

Could be a game. “Prescription drug or Lord of the Rings artifact?”

[Rockingham]

Oh, that is scream! It could be a Jeopardy category.

[upchuck]

The camera(s) lens is vulnerable. As is anything else not inside the housing. Antennas, etc.

[Vitesse]

Anduril. Flame of the West.

[BeauBo]

“Over-priced, over-hyped junk. Build the Wall.” (montaine)

“We are, this system will help us keep it.” (usurper)

This is in addition to the wall. Also, what good is the wall if there’s nobody and nothing to watch it and make sure it remains unbreached? (Spktyr)

The US Army’s Combat Engineers have a doctrine, that any obstacle must be kept under observation, or it will be vulnerable to counter-obstacle tactics.

Without monitoring, a wall only delays intruders briefly, to set up ladders and toss a rope over.

With effective monitoring though, they can be seen coming from miles away in rural areas, and kept away from the barrier for any tunneling, breaching or climbing attempts.

The beauty of this system is that it adds the equivalent of so many additional human eyes monitoring the border area and the barrier. 24 x 7 - unblinkingly and without sleeping. One of these systems is equivalent to several full time human monitors, and they have been tested and proven to detect more effectively than an average human watching screens. 200 systems would be the equivalent of a thousand or more full time positions, just staring at the border, with high magnification, zoom, and multi-spectral sensors (Day/Night cameras, body heat).

The Border Patrol Officers gain a redundant method of operational communication over cell phone networks, and they are able to observe the live feed from the cameras as they move to intercept. Infrared (invisible to the naked eye) lasers can be remotely used to illuminate infiltrators on the run and hiding in the brush, for apprehension.

This system adds a lot of capabilities, but its main benefit is very high, and very reliable detection.

With ropes and ladders, people can climb any obstacle, even Mount Everest. But the Trump Wall System is coupled with so many layers of alarms and sensors, that the chance of evading detection and capture drops to a very unlikely level.

Border Patrol says that you need the complete system to be effective - Infrastructure (barrier and roads), Technology and People.

[Spktyr]

Not if it’s covered with or made from modern ballistic plastic/glass. They already make red light camera lenses and lens covers out of the stuff - because people like to shoot out red light cameras.

[BeauBo]

“I thought it might have been the name of one of the palantirs”

Palantir was the name of another big AI project, for the Intelligence Community.

Different company.

[montaine]

The best way to stop intruders is to make defending their territory a problem for them. Mexico is very close to being a failed state and most of the worthwhile citizens are already here anyway. No time for them to cross our border when they are worried about how to get rid of Tio Gringo. Your Buck Rogers strategy has been tried before. Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall. The Maginot Line. Fortress Europa. All fails.

[montaine]

Did you catch the last sentence in the excerpt? “agents can break down and set up the towers in Under 2 hours” I”ll bet coyotes can do it faster and in the dark.