The Pentagon is deploying additional aviation assets to the US-Mexico border, including Sikorsky UH-60 and Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters.
Washington announced the mobilisation of forces on 1 March, noting that 650 aviation troops from the active duty US Army will be moved to the southwest border area in the coming weeks as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing border security initiative.
The rotary-wing assets will join additional military aircraft already supporting the immigration enforcement effort, which includes Boeing C-17 and Lockheed Martin C-130 transports from the US Air Force and search and rescue HC-130Js from the US Coast Guard.
Those assets are being used to deport migrants apprehended in the USA without legal status.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on 1 March said the additional rotorcraft will be used to “reinforce and expand current border security operations to seal the border and protect the territorial integrity of the United States”.
Military aircraft from the US Army National Guard reserve force have been operating along the US-Mexico border for years, including Airbus Helicopters UH-72A Lakota and UH-60 rotorcraft.
Other military aviation assets have also been seen along the frontier area over the past two decades, including Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors from the US Marine Corps and the US Army’s now-defunct Bell OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter.
