Mexican and Ukrainian authorities are investigating whether Latin American drug cartels have infiltrated Ukraine’s International Legion to learn first-person-view drone tactics, according to Intelligence Online. The inquiries focus on Spanish-speaking units and recruits suspected of targeting drone operator roles to transfer battlefield skills back to criminal groups.
Cartel adoption of first-person view (FPV) drones — cheap, precise and rapidly evolving — could accelerate violence in Mexico and threaten U.S. border security, according to the New Atlanticist blog. Groups have already experimented with weaponized drones and are testing FPVs — signs that rival organizations in west-central Mexico are adapting both attacks and defenses.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
What officials say
Mexican intelligence alerted Ukraine in early summer that cartel-linked volunteers were seeking FPV training inside the international arm of the Ukrainian armed forces, prompting a joint probe by Ukraine’s Security Service and military intelligence, Defense News reported.
One reported case centers on a Mexican national using the alias “Águila-7,” who allegedly registered with forged documents, excelled in training and was later tied to elite military backgrounds that have historically fed cartel ranks.
“Ukraine has become a platform for the global dissemination of FPV tactics,” a Kyiv security official told Intelligence Online.
“Some come to learn how to kill with a $400 drone,” the official added, “then sell that knowledge to whoever pays the highest price.”
FPV innovation on the Ukrainian battlefield, ranging from low-cost racing platforms to octocopter relays, AI-assisted guidance and fiber-optic tethering, has produced transferable, scalable tactics that determined operators can learn quickly.
Cartels are already modifying “narco-tanks” with anti-drone cages, and footage has emerged of cartel members with advanced fiber-optic FPV drones.
What’s next
The New Atlanticist article recommends several steps for U.S. agencies and partners, including tightening intelligence sharing with Mexico and Ukraine on personnel and technology flows; investing in counter-drone detection, jamming and directed-energy tools; disrupting parts supply chains; treating cartels as hybrid “narco-multinational corporations”; and integrating FPV attack scenarios into border security exercises.
