Mexican Cartels Launch 221 Drone Attacks

Mexican drug cartels are no longer just trafficking narcotics across borders. They are building a low cost air force, as Small Wars Journal reports.

A new report from the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, based at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, documents 221 weaponized drone incidents in Mexico between 2021 and 2025. The research center, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, warns that cartel UAS activity is expanding geographically and evolving tactically.

If you read this alongside recent analysis from Small Wars Journal on border cartel drones and Ukraine inspired tactics, the pattern becomes clear. Cartels are studying modern warfare. And they are adapting fast.

77 Killed As Drone Warfare Spreads

Out of the 221 documented weaponized drone incidents, 27 resulted in fatalities, with 77 people killed.

Most early attacks were concentrated in central Mexico, especially in Michoacán and Guerrero. These regions have long been contested by rival criminal groups.

But the trend line is shifting. Incidents are becoming more geographically dispersed, including movement toward northern states near the U.S. border. That expansion is one reason the U.S. government in 2025 designated six Mexico based cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, linking the move in part to escalating drone activity and its implications for homeland security.

Using data from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the report attributes 42 drone attacks between 2021 and 2025 to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, known as CJNG. That accounts for about 19 percent of attributed incidents, the largest identified share.

La Nueva Familia Michoacana follows with roughly 12.6 percent of attributed weaponized drone attacks.

However, 136 incidents in the dataset are attributed to unidentified cartel or criminal groups. That means most attacks still lack confirmed attribution. The fog of war is real, even in criminal conflicts.

A 72-Hour Drone Blitz

One of the most alarming findings involves LNFM’s activity spike in 2024.

The group recorded six incidents in 2023. That number jumped to 20 in 2024. Then it dropped to two incidents in 2025.

Fifteen of the 20 incidents in 2024 occurred within a 72 hour window between March 22 and March 24. During that short period, the group reportedly deployed more than 20 explosive devices using drones across multiple regions.

This was not random experimentation. It resembled coordinated drone strikes carried out in rapid succession.

Small commercial drones were used to drop explosive payloads, including grenades and improvised explosive devices. In several cases, drones were modified with release mechanisms that allowed operators to conduct repeated drops.

From Hobby Drones To FPV Explosive Platforms

The report notes that weaponized drones are most often used against civilians, community defense groups, and rival cartels. Attacks on police and military forces occur less frequently but appear to be increasing.

Most incidents involve small off the shelf drones adapted to deliver air dropped explosives. But CJNG has reportedly gone further.

According to NCITE, the group has adopted multi munition drop systems, first person view drones designed to detonate on impact, and has even experimented with fiber optic command and control setups to reduce vulnerability to signal jamming.

Those tactics echo developments seen in Ukraine, where low cost FPV drones have become precision strike tools. The difference here is that these methods are being applied by criminal organizations operating near the U.S. border.

The barrier to entry is low. Commercial drones are widely available. Modifications are relatively simple. The tactical impact can be significant.

Drone technology was supposed to democratize aerial photography. In parts of Mexico, it has democratized aerial violence instead.

DroneXL’s Take

This is not a future threat. It is a present one.

Two hundred twenty one weaponized drone incidents in four years is not noise. It is a trend. The data shows increasing dispersion, growing tactical sophistication, and rising experimentation with advanced control systems.

For U.S. agencies, the concern is not just cross border smuggling. It is cross border tactics.

If cartels can scale multi munition drop systems and FPV explosive drones in contested regions of Mexico, the question becomes whether those capabilities migrate north.

The drone industry often focuses on innovation, camera quality, and flight time. But reports like this remind us that the same platforms used for weddings and real estate can be turned into low cost strike systems.

Technology is neutral. Application is not.

And right now, cartel drone warfare is evolving faster than most policymakers are willing to admit.

Photo credit: Intelligence Online, Infobae.