Cochise College, Douglas Campus; Douglas, AZ
31.36339049, -109.682431
Intelligence Relocatable Long-Range Surveillance Tower (Relocatable IFT)
Dugan Meyer, May 2024
31.36339049, -109.682431
Intelligence Relocatable Long-Range Surveillance Tower (Relocatable IFT)
Dugan Meyer, May 2024
To date, this is the only Intelligence Relocatable Long-Range Surveillance Tower—a relocatable version of the Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) system—we know to be deployed along the Southwest border. Like the standard IFTs, it was manufactured by Elbit Systems of America. The tower has an effective maximum range of 5-7.5 miles and is outfitted with electro-optical and infrared cameras as well as radar technology. Artificial intelligence is used to assist agents monitoring the system from centralized control rooms.
The tower sits on the Douglas campus of Cochise College, a public, two-year community college in Cochise County, Arizona. College administrators signed a license agreement with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2021 that invited CBP to deploy the surveillance tower on its campus free of cost or compensation and for as long as it sees fit (although the college can revoke the agreement at any time with 60 days notice).