Posted on 03/31/2016 10:01:27 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Training in unmanned aerial systems on Fort Huachuca should be coordinated with the efforts of the Border Patrol to increase surveillance along the U.S. border with Mexico, Sen. John McCain told a luncheon gathering hosted by the Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.
McCain said he plans to contact Jeh Johnson, head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, next week to urge the agency to coordinate its surveillance efforts with UAV training now happening at the fort.
McCain said he expects both the number of military personnel being trained and the number of instructors will be at least doubled at the Southern Arizona Army post in the near future.
“We need that capability and we need more of it,” McCain told an audience of more than 150 attending the lunch at the Windemere Hotel and Conference Center.
Speaking on a wide range of topics, the senator said he continues to be impressed with the capabilities of Fort Huachuca and particularly its “Cyber Command” center, which is at the forefront of fighting a leading threat to the United States. He noted that America has enough military force to overcome any enemy, except one: cyber warfare.
“We are in some respects, behind in our cyber defense capabilities,” McCain said.
McCain is the chairman of the congressional Armed Services Committee, which governs the operations of the Department of Defense. He said there are no plans to form a Base Realignment and Closure Commission until after 2017 and that further reductions in the nation’s military are a threat to the safety of its soldiers.
In speaking to retired Gen. Raymond Odierno, former Army Chief of Staff, McCain said he learned of that danger.
“Gen. Odierno is telling us that any further reductions in the size of our military will put the lives of those who are serving in greater danger. I don’t know how clear it has to be,” McCain said.
He also criticized sequestration, which the senator said has been “... the worst thing for the U.S. military,” and has forced leaders to make budget cuts at the price of risking national security.
Speaking to the threat of the Islamic State, McCain said President Obama has refused to acknowledge that the terrorist group is a direct threat to the United States and Europe. The senator said ISIS has grown significantly in Northern Africa and other places since 2009 and that the president still doesn’t have a strategy to defeat the organization.
“We are not winning,” McCain said, indicating that he anticipates there will be more attacks in Europe and the United States. We either kill them over there, or we kill them here, but I would prefer to take the fight over there.”
McCain also praised the efforts of the fort, the City of Sierra Vista and Cochise County officials for their work on water conservation. He said he plans to urge military officials to make Fort Huachuca a model of what can be done to conserve water, noting that other installations would benefit from the practices and technologies being employed at the local post.
The senator said he also supports efforts to improve the management of national forests, spending more federal dollars to reduce the number of wildfires that have ravaged Arizona and other western states.
“I’m telling you now, the issues of fire and water will have an impact on our kids and grandkids if we don’t take steps to address what’s happening right now,” McCain said.
There is good news for the United States, the senator said. He pointed to energy independence as a significant step for the country, noting that he expects the United States will be exporting natural gas to Eastern Europe in the near future to reduce the dependence of these countries on Russia.
McCain said manufacturing is expanding, but he said “the bad news” is that automation is reducing the number of jobs that are available.
He also said Russia represents a greater threat to the United States than ISIS.
“When I talk to generals, they tell me that their top concern is Vladimir Putin and Russia, not a terrorist group,” McCain said.
He said he expects that now Syria has been secured through the efforts of the Russian military and the county’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, he expect that Putin will return to creating chaos in Ukraine.
“His vision is to restore Russia to what it once was, which means Russia wants to control all of Eastern Europe,” McCain said.
Juan can ‘urge’ Jeh Johnson all he wants, but until $$ is withheld, nothing will happen.
What a true pos
I can see how a drone surveillance would work.
“Sir, I’ve got a bunch of illegals at sector Y-6.”
“How many?”
“Looks like about fifty.”
“Put that in the report and move on.”
“Aren’t we going to go after them, sir?”
“PUT IT IN THE REPORT AND MOVE ON!”
“Yes, sir.”
Doesn’t matter HOW much training Border Patrol is given, or to what degree their capability to find and track border jumpers may be, if there is no will or incentive to actually CATCH and HOLD the miscreant, then this remains a technical oddity, having nothing at all to do with border security.
Don’t need more UAV training for humans, better buggy whips won’t be smart in the future. You need to prioritize development of UAV autonomous behaviors via short range non-RF communication (e.g. swarm intelligence). Having UAVs capable of autonomous task-organizing, target acquisition and neutralization, BDA, optimized wide area surveillance, and so on is within reach if there is a political will.
McCain doing his life-like election year conservative impressions.
The border drones better be the high altitude type to be effective because when Trump is president he will build a very high WALL.
“Sir, I’ve got a bunch of illegals at sector Y-6.”
“How many?”
“Looks like about fifty.”
“Forget that you ever saw them.”
“Aren’t we going to go after them, sir?”
“Do you want to lose your job? I expect a report saying that the border is totally secure.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Doesn’t matter HOW much training Border Patrol is given”
It is the Air and Marine division (A&M), under CBP, not the Border Patrol that owns the air assets. The BP does not own any air assets, they are all part of A&M now.
A&M assets, unarmed Predators, are flown by A&M employees. There are maybe (at most) four BP Agents working liaison duty and trained on the sensors. They do not fly the platform.
Training for A&M take place in Grand Forks and A&M does operate out of SV (launch and recovery).
Combining the training would not be all that effective.
Separate classes are necessary. . .like they do up in Grand Forks.
Sound like McLame is trying to move jobs down to AZ because he is facing an election challenge. The ‘ol jobs-equal-votes ploy. . .
increase surveillance along the U.S. border with Mexico
Coming from a guy that swears up and down the US Border is Secure, all the while doing everything possible to make sure there is NO BORDER and wants to give Amnesty to EVERYONE in the World at YOUR EXPENSE!
I did testing of UAV-SR’s in 1990 at Fort Huachuca for the US Navy, partnered with IAI. It was pretty cool. Had an intercept platform that would get 0 to 10.2 Ghz and was able to record on mag tape, video, and the Spec An shots on floppy disk on the computer.
Pretty impressive stuff, that was.
McCain is up for re-election this year, therefore he’s trying to play his phony conservative cards again. Dump him!
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