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September 19, 2026: The U.S. Navy is purchasing automated Voyager surface drones to assist in interdicting drug cartel speedboats attempting to bring large quantities of fentanyl and other addictive substances into the United States. Voyagers are ten meters long, with a six-meter mast holding a wing-like device that provides propulsion when the electric motor is low on fuel. Top speed is 8 kilometers an hour, and endurance is a hundred days before it needs to enter port or a ship at sea for new batteries and any necessary repairs or upgrades. Voyager carries a lot of electronics, including a Norbit Winghead i77h multibeam sonar (up to 300 m depth), an Integrated Sound Velocity Profiler (SVP) with winch (down to 150 meters), and a Positioning system using an Integrated POS MV OceanMaster. Atmospheric sensors monitor wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. The system also includes instruments and sensors for seafloor mapping & classification, dissolved oxygen, salinity, sea temperature, Wave height, and period. For video, it includes a PTZ infrared camera, radar, and an AIS transceiver.

Endurance is 100 days or more in high-seas missions, including ocean domain awareness, undersea detection, ocean mapping, sub ‑ bottom profiling, metocean (meteorology and oceanography) surveys, counter ‑ drug operations, border monitoring, illegal fishing, cable route surveys, coastal mapping, deep ‑ ocean mapping, and hurricane monitoring.

The U.S. Navy has used Voyager drones to support counter ‑ drug trafficking and illegal fishing monitoring as part of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, whose primary mission in the Caribbean is dealing with smugglers bringing in fentanyl manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico, where local drug cartels seek to get the fentanyl across the border. So far, the most effective method has been to put five to nine tons of cocaine or fentanyl onto a speedboat that will then leave a cartel-controlled port in Colombia or Venezuela for movement to Mexico and from there overland into the United States. Another route, using semisubmersible boats, moves drugs to Europe. U.S., South American, and European navies cooperate to track and capture or sink these vessels. Despite these efforts, more than half the shipments get through, and the loss of the other boats is considered a cost of doing business. Even with those losses, the cartels are still making money.

Over the last few decades, Peru and Colombia have been where most cocaine has come from. At one point, Peru was the main source of cocaine on the planet. Peru was believed to have harvested 119,000 tons of coca leaf (the source of cocaine), compared to 103,000 tons in Colombia. To get one ton of cocaine, you need to process 250 tons of coca leaf. That ton of cocaine sells for about $2.1 million in the country of origin. But get it to a major market, like the United States, and it sells for about $35 million to distributors, and for $120 million to drug users. Bolivia is also becoming a major source of cocaine, with about half the acreage of coca plants as Peru. Colombia has been aggressive in destroying coca crops and providing farmers with economic assistance and the ability to survive with alternative (legal) crops. But the aid does not come fast enough, and many farmers become destitute during the transition period.

And then there is fentanyl. This synthetic drug is fifty times more potent than heroin and is usually added to heroin to increase potency. That potency is often so high that it kills heroin users. Most fentanyl is manufactured in China, and this chemical has become a major source of illegal drug deaths. Despite the danger, it is popular with heroin addicts because of the more intense effect.