Operation Phalanx was a

United States National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

in the security of the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

. Beginning in 2010, Phalanx was the successor operation to 2006–2008 program known as

Operation Jump Start Operation Jump Start was a military operation to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection, announced by President George W. Bush in May 2006. The mission entailed the deployment of United States National Guard troops along the Mexico–United Stat ...

. Since the beginning of Operation Phalanx in 2010, National Guard airmen flying

UH-72 Lakota The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145, built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.), a ...

helicopters have been credited with stopping 64,000 illegal border crossings in the Rio Grande sector of the United States Mexico border, along with an additional 25,000 in the Laredo sector and 21,000 in the

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

area. More than 300,000 pounds of marijuana has also been seized in Phalanx operations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phalanx 2010 in the United States 2016 in the United States Battles of the Mexican drug war Operations against organized crime in the United States