WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is expanding its technology testbed along the US-Mexico border, with senior officials eyeing new unmanned surface vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, more automated aerial drones, and possible unmanned ground vehicles — all contingent on funding still being negotiated on Capitol Hill.
Mark Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs, told Breaking Defense on Wednesday that the department wants to bring new projects to the border “in a responsible way that’s safe,” but noted that “major negotiations” over the fiscal 2027 budget are ongoing. Congress has passed a continuing resolution to fund the department from Oct. 1 through early December, while lawmakers debate a $1.15 trillion base budget and a separate $350 billion reconciliation deal that appears increasingly unlikely to pass in its current form.
The department has already deployed 10 Lightfish unmanned surface vessels to monitor the Rio Grande river area as part of a broader autonomy and network integration project. After receiving “positive feedback,” Ditlevson said he wants to push USVs into the Gulf of Mexico to support counter-narcotics operations, with a notional mission running “from the mouth of the Rio Grande across to Key West.” No timeline for that deployment has been set.
On the software side, the Pentagon aims to fold Joint Interagency Task Force-401’s Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems sensor architecture into border operations next year, integrating it with the DoD’s Maven Smart System and Lattice, as well as Customs and Border Protection’s Minotaur. “Hardware is awesome, but that software backbone also needs to be invested in,” Ditlevson said.
Ditlevson also credited the Safer Skies Act, passed as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, with cutting red tape under Section 130i for counter-drone operations on US soil. He said measures have been put in place after a February incident in which the FAA shut down airspace around El Paso airport due to a miscommunication involving a counter-drone laser on loan from the Army to Customs and Border Protection. “That has been remedied, and I feel very confident in what we have for systems in place,” he said.
Pressure on Services for Laser Weapons
Separately, the Pentagon’s critical technology chief is pressing the military services to commit to the Joint Laser Weapon System program after the Army said it would transition within the next two years. Michael Dodd, assistant secretary of defense for critical technologies, said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference on Wednesday that his office is committed to fielding directed energy systems within 24 months or less.
“I’ll say it here, I’m going to knuckle roll the other services to do the same,” Dodd said. The Defense Department has awarded two JLWS contracts to nLIGHT Defense and Lockheed Martin with an initial value of $86 million and a ceiling of $847 million. Earlier this month, the Army awarded AeroVironment a $464.8 million contract for its Enduring-High Energy Laser program, which company officials called the first production contract for directed energy weapon systems in American history.
Dodd said the cost per system remains high “because we’re not scaling the systems,” and argued that services need to procure directed energy weapons “by the dozens or hundreds” to make them cost-effective. “We’re shooting down $1,000 one-way attack drones with multi-million-dollar systems. It’s completely unsustainable,” he said.
Nuclear Microreactors for Fort Benning
In a separate energy resilience effort, the Army announced on Aug. 26 that Fort Benning, Georgia, will host three Radiant Industries Kaleidos microreactors under the Janus Program. The three 1-megawatt units will provide a combined 3 megawatts of backup power to Lawson Army Airfield and other critical infrastructure if the regional grid fails. Radiant has said it holds an Army contract worth up to $750 million to deploy 15 microreactor units across Janus sites. The Army is targeting 2028 for the first Janus microreactors to become operational.
The border testbed expansion and the directed energy push reflect a broader Pentagon effort to field emerging technologies faster and at scale, driven by cost pressures from drone threats and the operational demands of homeland defense missions.
Sources: Breaking Defense · Breaking Defense · DefenseScoop · Defence Blog