Texas DPS Quietly Built a Border-Scale Drone Fleet

Texas once flirted with the idea of citizens shooting drones out of the sky. Now the state is operating one of the largest law enforcement drone fleets in the country, irony included at no extra charge.

Under Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, the Texas Department of Public Safety has gone from zero drones to a full blown airborne surveillance force that rivals the U.S. Border Patrol, as The Texas Observer reports.

A decade ago, DPS had no drone program at all. Fast forward to 2025 and the agency now manages more than 450 unmanned aircraft, with nearly 400 trained operators and a fleet valued at roughly $3.7 million. That is not hobbyist territory anymore. That is institutional air power.

From zero drones to Drone Star State

The growth curve is steep enough to make a DJI sales rep blush. In late 2020, DPS owned fewer than 200 drones. Since Operation Lone Star launched in 2021, that number more than doubled. About 95 of those drones were listed as non operational as of September, but even with that caveat, the fleet remains massive by any law enforcement standard.

To put this in perspective, U.S. Border Patrol operates around 500 drones nationwide. Texas DPS is now playing in the same league, and in some regions, arguably punching above its weight. The fleet is also far larger than that of Chihuahua, the Mexican state across much of West Texas, which purchased around 75 drones as part of a much larger surveillance investment.

Most of the DPS drones are small, portable systems with roughly 45 minutes of flight time, many equipped with thermal cameras. These are not high altitude military platforms, but they are persistent, mobile, and very good at watching things from angles humans cannot reach without ladders or helicopters.

Border missions first, but not only

Operation Lone Star has been the primary justification for the expansion. In 2023, nearly 70 percent of DPS drone flight hours were tied to border missions, with drone pilots assisting Border Patrol more than 3,000 times.

In 2024, as migrant crossings dropped, border related drone use dipped to 61 percent, with assists falling to around 1,800. In 2025, just over half of all drone flights were still linked to the operation.

That still leaves a very large slice of flight time for other uses, and this is where civil liberties groups start sharpening their pencils. Surveillance experts have long warned that technologies tested at borders tend to migrate inward, quietly and efficiently.

Those warnings appear well founded. DPS drones have been used during immigration raids far from the border, including an Austin area birthday party where attendees later said drones were overhead during the operation. DPS described this as overwatch, which is a word that sounds comforting until it is hovering above your cake.

Drones have also appeared at protests. Records show DPS deployed UAS during demonstrations like the “No Kings” protests and later during pro Palestine demonstrations at the University of Texas.

In those cases, drones reportedly monitored crowds and followed demonstrators as they dispersed. DPS maintains that these flights were about safety, not surveillance, though from the ground, the difference can feel academic.

Rules, exceptions, and a looming DJI problem

On paper, DPS has rules. Training materials instruct officers not to use drones for warrantless surveillance of private property, not to retain footage of constitutionally protected activities, and not to develop probable cause based on drone data alone.

Near the border, those protections soften. Within 25 miles of the U.S. border, DPS training slides state that images of people and property may be captured without consent, as long as the purpose is border security. How broadly that purpose is defined remains unclear, and DPS has not explained how it decides which missions qualify.

There is also a practical problem looming over the entire program. About 97 percent of DPS drones come from Chinese manufacturers, mainly DJI and Autel. Republicans in Congress are again pushing for bans on Chinese made drones, citing national security concerns. Texas lawmakers have proposed similar restrictions at the state level, though none have passed so far.

If a ban does materialize, DPS could find itself with a fleet that is suddenly grounded, expensive paperweights with propellers. Replacing hundreds of drones with non Chinese alternatives would not be quick, cheap, or simple, and the domestic market is still catching up in terms of reliability and cost.

DroneXL’s Take

Texas DPS did not just adopt drones, it embraced them at scale, quietly building a program that now rivals federal agencies and reshapes how law enforcement sees the sky.

Drones are efficient, flexible, and undeniably useful, especially in harsh border terrain, but they also normalize constant aerial observation in everyday life. When flying cameras become routine tools rather than exceptional ones, the real question is not how many drones are in the air, but how often the public even notices they are there.

Photo credit: Skydio, DJI, U.S. National Guard.