5 January 2023. BP towers to fill surveillance gap after aerostat drawdown. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that it has started to reduce the number of tactical aerostats deployed along the southwest border of the United States, as of January 1, 2023. The CBP will now rely on surveillance towers, including autonomous surveillance towers (AST), Remote Video Surveillance System – Upgrades (RVSS-U), and legacy RVSS towers, to give agents a view of the border through remote cameras. The AST towers, which are 33 feet tall, have a three-mile radius view, and are solar-powered, use artificial intelligence to spot targets and alert agents. There are currently 195 AST towers in use, with another 80 planned for deployment. The CBP did not respond to a question on the rationale for the reduction in aerostats. Source: KRGV.com