The Argentine government suspended camera use balloons to strengthen surveillance over its borders as part of a program to combat drug trafficking, officials said.
"The technology will allow us to control borders of greater traffic, which is afoot" in cars, buses, trucks and on foot, said Argentina Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, the state agency Telam.
In that sense, Bullrich said is a "cheaper and more useful" technology that current radars, as these "only target aircraft" and stressed that any country with the right tools may participate in the initiative, it is open to competition.
The control system consists of high-quality cameras with 360 degree rotation that can identify vehicles 15 kilometers away and people, 7, placed in balloons fixed to the ground by a steel cable that handles " power "of technical equipment for 72 hours.
The idea came after Argentine Security Secretary, Eugenio Burzaco, see the mechanism in operation during a visit to Israel made in May.
According to the ministry, by the time the balloons will be placed in the north of the country, particularly in the parts most "problematic" in the province of Salta and Tucuman, Santiago del Estero and northern Santa Fe.
The aim is to combat drug trafficking and smuggling through a system that, unlike radar, does not depend on a fixed installation but can be placed "in places provided by the criminal intelligence as potential areas of narcos tracks," said ministry Telam.
Currently they are located on the northern border five fixed surveillance radars.