LUKE TURF

FORT HUACHUCA - New sets of eyes are in the sky over the U.S.-Mexican border, watching for terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.
Two unmanned aerial vehicles are flying over stretches of the Arizona border daily as part of the the federal government's boldest attempt yet to seal the border.

The Department of Homeland Security is leasing the drones, valued at $1 million each, through September from Israel's Elbit Systems, a global defense electronics company, said Rob Smith, the Border Patrol's assistant chief in Washington, D.C., and UAV program manager. That will give the agency time to evaluate their effectiveness.

Eventually, the drones will patrol night and day, he said.

Officials would not estimate the impact the aircraft might have on apprehensions as part of the Arizona Border Control initiative to seal the Arizona section of the international border.

Each aircraft, which can fly up to 90 miles per hour and altitudes of up to 20,000 feet, carries $1.5 million worth of sensor equipment.

The cost of maintenance and fuel will put the total cost to lease and operate them through the trial period at about $4 million.

Michael Nicley, the Border Patrol's interim chief for the Tucson sector, said the UAVs, known as Hermie 450s, will bring more attention to the beefed-up effort on the border in Arizona. They also will help in search and rescues and save manpower by watching some of the most desolate areas of the border.

"The cornerstone of our strategy is deterrence," Nicley said.

Other components of the border control initiative - including sending Mexicans caught sneaking into the United States back to Mexico City and Guadalajara to discourage them from crossing again - will cost $13 million, said Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger.

Those costs, combined with the UAV program, will nearly double the initiative's original $10 million estimated cost.

The UAV patrols will supplement ABC's 110 detailed agents and 200 permanent agents, of which 169 have been hired, according to Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame. Two permanent helicopters and two on temporary detail also are part of the plan.

Eventually, the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol will have about 2,200 agents for the 261 miles of border it's responsible for, Adame said. The sector covers the entire Arizona-Sonora border, except in the state's far southwest corner.

Adame said apprehensions soared 43 percent in March when the initiative began, but dropped 7 percent in the past 30 days, showing the initiative is effective.

Tucson sector agents made about 51,000 apprehensions in May, and are on target for about 40,000 this month, he said.

Smith noted that in 25,000 hours of flight, only two of the Hermie 450s have crashed.

"That's one of the reasons we decided to go with them," Smith said. "It's a proven platform."

The Border Patrol isn't the first to use unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the border. A civilian Border Patrol watchdog group based in Sierra Vista, American Border Patrol, began using a $30,000 UAV early last summer, said Glenn Spencer, the group's president.