Raymond Sarracino at the dvids online site reports that U.S. Southern Command, working with Salvadoran military and civil aviation officials, has completed a month-long evaluation project to assess the suitability of using unmanned aircraft for counter drug missions in the Pacific, Caribbean, Central, and South America.

The deployment, called Monitoreo, was an initiative carried out as part of a SOUTHCOM Innovation Program using the Heron, an unmanned air vehicle designed for medium altitude, long endurance air operations and capable of sustained flight for up to 20 hours without the need for aerial refueling when configured for counter illicit trafficking detection missions.The Heron arrived at the Salvadoran air base on April 29th and participated in 10 missions during the evaluation, flying more than 100 hours in direct support of counter drug surveillance activities along Central America's Pacific coast. None of the missions Heron flew resulted in a drug bust, although the UAV did investigate suspected targets.

The information recorded during the evaluation will be included in a final assessment and available to SOUTHCOM, Defense Department, and other U.S. interagency decision makers considering the use of UAVs to support future U.S.-led counter drug air operations in the SOUTHCOM area of focus. Unmanned air systems like Heron consist of a UAV, a ground control station staffed with a pilot and two payload/sensor operators, as well as equipment that enables remote, over-the-horizon communications with the aircraft during flight operations. The Department of Defense funded Project Monitoreo after it was conceptualized in 2008 by U.S. Southern Command and Naval Forces Southern Command planners exploring the use of innovative aviation technologies to enhance counter drug surveillance capabilities and cooperation with partner nations in the region.

The Heron system used during the project was "contractor-owned and contractor-operated," meaning the system and technical experts operating it were provided by defense contractors hired to support the project through a competitive selection process conducted by the Defense Department's Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office. Defense contractors supporting Monitoreo included engineers and aviation technicians from Stark Aerospace, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Raytheon. Technologies incorporated into Heron's design include advanced flight, navigation and communications systems and a mix of multi-mode radar, infrared and electro-optical surveillance capabilities equipped aboard the various manned aircraft currently supporting counter drug operations in the region, including the E-2 Hawkeye, P-3 Orion, HC-130 Hercules, and E-3 Sentry.

The Salvadoran Air Force base hosting Heron already serves as host to a U.S. cooperative security location (CSL) — also known as a forward operating location (FOL) — responsible for overseeing U.S. counter-drug air operations in the Central American region. The CSL has also served as a site for strong counter drug cooperation between the U.S. and El Salvador, fueled by the two countries' shared commitment to disrupt drug trafficking activities in the area. In 2008, working with El Salvador and other regional partners, the CSL directly contributed to the seizure of 80 metric tons of illicit drugs in the Central American region. As of April 24, the CSL has also contributed to 83 metric tons interdiction in 2009 by Joint Interagency Task Force-South, a SOUTHCOM component based in Key West and charged with overseeing counter illicit trafficking operations in the Caribbean, Central and South America.