DHS Flew Predator Drones Over LA Protests, Audio Shows

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew two high-powered Predator surveillance drones above the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles over the weekend, according to air traffic control (ATC) audio unearthed by an aviation tracking enthusiast then reviewed by 404 Media and cross-referenced with flight data.

The use of Predator drones highlights the extraordinary resources government agencies are putting behind surveilling and responding to the Los Angeles protests, which started after ICE agents raided a Home Depot on Friday. President Trump has since called up 4,000 members of the National Guard, and on Monday ordered more than 700 active duty Marines to the city too.

“TROY703, traffic 12 o’clock, 8 miles, opposite direction, another ‘TROY’ Q-9 at FL230,” one part of the ATC audio says. The official name of these types of Predator B drones, made by a company called General Atomics, is the MQ-9 Reaper.

On Monday 404 Media reported that all sorts of agencies, from local, to state, to DHS, to the military flew aircraft over the Los Angeles protests. That included a DHS Black Hawk, a California Highway Patrol small aircraft, and two aircraft that took off from nearby March Air Reserve Base.

One aircraft with no callsign, making it initially difficult to determine its model or which agency it belongs to, flew above the areas of the protests in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. The data showed this aircraft flying in distinctive hexagonal patterns, and 404 Media observed it fly afterwards to the U.S.-Mexico border. Its altitude and flight pattern strongly resembled that of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Predator drone that flew over the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis in 2020. Predator drones are infamous for carrying out drone strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and other parts of the world. But they are also used as unarmed surveillance aircraft inside the U.S.

The ATC audio, uncovered by aviation tracking enthusiast who goes by the moniker Aeroscout, now further corroborates this was a DHS high-powered surveillance drone.

Aeroscout told 404 Media he also noticed these distinctive hexagonal patterns and he started to investigate further. He noticed that, according to flight data, at one point one of these aircraft was approaching Los Angeles while the other was leaving. Both of these aircraft flew through Sector 09, a section of airspace to the south of the city, Aeroscout said. ATC audio related to that sector is available on LiveATC, a website where volunteers feed ATC audio into a searchable database.

Aeroscout said they then reviewed the Sector 09 archive for the times that these two aircraft were in the area and heard two “TROY” callsigns, TROY701 and TROY703. TROY is a callsign used by DHS; the Black Hawk helicopter 404 Media previously tracked was registered to CBP and used the callsign TROY212, for example. The ATC audio showed TROY701 was heading east towards Yuma Approach and leaving the state. 

Aeroscout then checked the Yuma Approach audio. In that, an air traffic controller told both aircraft to look out for each other. The audio says these two aircraft are Q-9s, the high-powered surveillance drone (Q-9 is sometimes used as shorthand for MQ-9). Aeroscout found another piece of related audio in which an Alaska Air flight was told to watch out for drone traffic, he said.

The relevant section mentioning Q-9s is:

“[TROY]01, traffic, 12 o’clock, 10 miles, opposite direction, another ‘TROY’ Q-9, FL220.”

“TROY703, traffic 12 o’clock, 8 miles, opposite direction, another ‘TROY’ Q-9 at FL230.”

404 Media reviewed a larger section of the relevant ATC audio and verified this section mentioning Q-9s appeared in it.

CBP acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide a response in time for publication.

CBP has a fleet of around ten high-powered drones, including five Predator Bs, according to a CBP presentation available online. I previously found CBP was regularly flying its Predator drones over U.S. cities, including some farther than 100 miles away from the border.