The Mexican Navy’ Institute for Technology Innovation is developing three Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that will be used for intelligence and reconnaissance missions.

It has been announced that the Navy is asking for 200,000 USD to fund the research and development of such technology, instead of acquiring UAVs already available in the market.

The Mexican Navy bought a similar number of UAVs developed by Hydra Technologies a year ago, but it seems that naval authorities want to reduce acquisition costs by developing their own unmanned technologies.

It is not clear whether the Navy will partner with private companies –such as Hydra Technologies- or will work by its own.

Nevertheless – and given Mexico’s security crisis- the use of Unmanned Aerial Technology will definitively boost the Armed Forces’ ISR operational capabilities.

Addendum:

The Mexican Navy is not the only service operating UAVs, the Mexican Air Force operates the Israel-made Elbit Systems Hermes 450 as the one pictured below.

Picture: Elbit Systems Hermes 450