Colombia Moves to Acquire Anti-Drone Systems After ELN Attack Kills Six Soldiers

Written on 12/19/2025
Josep Freixes
Colombia will purchase, through the emergency system, an anti-drone system to defend itself against attacks by illegal armed groups. Credit: Andrea Puentes / Presidency of Colombia.

The latest attack on a military base in the municipality of Aguachica, in the department of Cesar, has reignited concerns about the growing sophistication of illegal armed groups in Colombia and reshaped the debate over national security.

On the previous night, an attack carried out by the Camilo Torres Restrepo Front of the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN) against Military Base 27, assigned to Infantry Battalion No. 14, left six soldiers dead and at least 31 wounded after the use of explosives and drones adapted as lethal devices.

The Army directly blamed that guerrilla structure for the violent act, which took place in a rural area of the municipality and which, according to authorities, relied on drones fitted with explosive charges and the indiscriminate use of unconventional devices to cause harm among uniformed personnel.

The incident is not only part of the ELN’s escalation of attacks following 72 hours of an armed strike, but also highlights the rapid adoption of technologies by illegal groups that traditionally operated with more rudimentary methods. After the attack became known, Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, responded immediately and directly linked the scale of the attack to the lack of specialized devices to neutralize this type of threat.

Through his social media accounts and subsequent statements, Petro announced that the government will move to acquire anti-drone systems through the mechanism of a declared state of urgency, to equip state forces with technological tools that allow for the detection, interception, and neutralization of unmanned aircraft used for violent purposes. The decision, he said, responds to an urgent need to protect military personnel and strategic sites nationwide, and is estimated to have a cost of around 1 trillion pesos (approximately US$263 million).

Colombia moves to acquire anti-drone systems after ELN attack kills six soldiers

The executive’s decision to invoke an express urgency to expedite the purchase of anti-drone systems sparked debate early in the day. Gustavo Petro explained that this exceptional public procurement measure responds to the need to “speed things up” in a process that, under normal conditions, could be delayed and leave emerging threats without a timely response. The use of the state-of-urgency mechanism is intended precisely to eliminate administrative barriers that, according to the president, could hinder the acquisition of critical technology for military security and state defense.

In fact, after confirming the attack, the president attributed it to the lack of an anti-drone system capable of countering this new methodology used by illegal armed groups, increasingly deployed in attacks against the security forces, and took the opportunity to launch a veiled criticism of the opposition, which he says has blocked in Congress his proposed tax reform aimed at providing the state with greater financial capacity.

“(This) happens because prioritized anti-drone systems are lacking. In the measures taken today in the Council of Ministers, the immediate purchase of the systems was ordered; they cost 1 trillion pesos for the entire country. I hope they do not undermine the search for these new resources. The state-of-urgency mechanism will be used to speed up procurement processes,” he wrote on his X social media account.

The presidential announcement marks a shift in the defense strategy against irregular forces that, in addition to consolidating their territorial presence in certain regions of the country, have incorporated technological elements that expand their lethal capacity.

The anti-drone systems the government plans to acquire are designed to detect, track, and intercept unauthorized drones, a tool that until now has been scarce in the inventory of the armed forces despite the growing threat these devices pose when fitted with improvised explosives.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez noted that although authorities have managed to jam a significant percentage of drone attacks, the available technology is not sufficient, given the speed with which armed groups can circumvent existing control mechanisms.

Drones as weapons: from civilian tool to instrument of war

The use of drones by illegal armed groups is not an isolated phenomenon nor exclusive to the ELN in Colombia. Globally, these small unmanned aircraft have shifted from being commercial or recreational devices to tools adapted for military uses, including reconnaissance, logistics, or the delivery of explosive payloads.

Their low cost, ease of acquisition on the civilian market, and relative technical simplicity for modification make them attractive assets for organizations seeking to expand their offensive capacity without investing in high-cost technology.

In Colombia, official reports and security analyses have warned for months about the increase in drone attacks by illegal armed groups. Although many of these devices lack the precision of advanced military equipment, their use with improvised explosives has caused human losses and poses considerable challenges for a traditional defense strategy.

The multiplication of these incidents pushes state security forces to respond not only by strengthening their technological capabilities, but also by integrating specialized intelligence and surveillance to anticipate and neutralize threats.

‘ELN is the only armed organization that is an enemy of Colombia and Venezuela’

The Colombian president ruled out the possibility of a “perfect union” — as it was described by his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro — between the armies of both nations to confront a potential military invasion of their territory.

During a press conference, Gustavo Petro responded to a question about Maduro’s call: “The only way for Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela to come back together is through constituent power and popular sovereignty. Until that happens, no one can give orders to another army,” said the president of Colombia.

He added that just as he cannot give orders to the Venezuelan army, authorities there cannot give orders to the Colombian army. “The only binational armed organization made up of Venezuelans and Colombians is called ELN, a group that devoted itself to trafficking cocaine and killing peasants,” he said.

He further stated that “ELN is an enemy of Colombia and Venezuela, and it is an enemy of Latin America. If it laid down its arms, it would stop being so; but even though a hand was extended to it to talk, and talks were under way, and I sought for the Venezuelan government and its army to encircle the ELN’s military intentions — a matter that was lost in the current situation — ELN decided to enter Catatumbo with ‘Pablito’ and kill 200 peasants. ELN kills people in Colombia and also kills people in Venezuela,” he asserted.

As a result, and despite the announcements of willingness to engage in dialogue with the state expressed by the armed group last week, it is clear that the prospects of reopening a peace table with ELN are today farther away than ever.