The U.S. Army is outfitting troops with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team with the latest technology to surveil the Mexico-U.S. border and alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents of illegal border crossings and drug smugglers. From high-tech headwear and a force reorganization designed to help Soldiers move through rough, unfamiliar terrain to tiny drones that can spot illegal activity, the troops are learning to operate the new equipment.
The Stryker Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Mountain Warriors, is based in Fort Carson, Colorado. About 2,400 brigade troops arrived at the southern border in March to secure the border and provide intelligence and monitoring to help Border Patrol agents along the 3,415kilometer frontier. About half that distance —1,680 kilometers — is assigned to the battalion, stretching over several U.S. states. Thirty years ago, the brigade was designated as an experimentation and validation program designed to ready the Army for 21st century combat. That tradition has continued as the Pentagon picked the brigade combat team to once again test unproven systems. Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, a spokesman for the Joint Task Force Southern Border, said troops along the border “not only help to preserve the integrity of the United States southern border but also create a laboratory of experimentation along the southern border,” according to Task & Purpose, a military affairs website.
One new system to detect illegal activity is the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), which resembles a gaming headset. First developed by Microsoft in 2018, the system has been tweaked to distribute its weight more evenly on Soldiers’ heads to avoid headaches reported in earlier versions. Earlier iterations also had glitches with moisture retention and graphic misfunctions, as well as causing dizziness, the website reported. The latest versions work well, Army officers have reported.
The IVAS headsets display thermal and low-light imaging sensors, a compass for navigation and augmented reality features. “You can place graphics on a map, and that map is interactive as Soldiers cross phase lines, checkpoints, etc.,” Capt. Zander Wiesehuegel, a brigade company commander, told Task & Purpose. “Specifically for this mission, what it allows them to do is take data that they receive over a radio. They’ll plot that on a map, and then everyone who’s wearing that sensor is able to see where that’s plotted on a map.” The device’s night vision enhances Soldiers’ ability to detect migrants or smugglers, information which they quickly relay to the Border Patrol. The brigade’s rules of engagement prohibit Soldiers from detaining illegal border crossers.
The Army also is testing a 70-ounce Black Hornet surveillance drone and a Dronebuster system, the website reported. They also are carrying an Army Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN), a system designed to detect drones by targeting radio frequencies. The timing of the brigade’s mission has proved useful for getting Soldiers comfortable with the new gear. “A lot of the systems that they’re using for counter [unmanned aerial systems], they didn’t have before coming to the border,” Capt. Bailey Buhler, Joint Task Force-Southern Border, told Task & Purpose. “The fielding of this equipment really has been timed with the receipt of this mission as the [Department of Defense] has seen an opportunity to support national security and to enhance our training in a place where there’s the ability to do it.”
The Mountain Warrior Brigade has a storied history. It was one of the most frequently deployed units to Iraq and Afghanistan. Three of its Soldiers earned Medal of Honor commendations, the most awarded of any brigade in the Army during recent conflicts, according to an Army history.