CAUCA — The Colombian army launched a battalion of unmanned aircraft in May 2026 in Cauca to counter a growing weaponized drone threat. The new unit follows a sharp escalation in drone attacks attributed to armed groups across the country.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded one weaponized drone attack in Colombia in 2023, 38 in 2024 and 149 in 2025. Colombia's ministry of defense reported zero such attacks in 2023, 61 in 2024 and 333 in 2025. ACLED recorded that drones were used in 12 municipalities in 2024 and 41 in 2025.

"What is concerning is not only the very rapid escalation and frequency of their use, but also the geographical spread," said Tiziano Breda, ACLED senior analyst. He linked the spread of the devices to the conflict in Europe. "This war in Ukraine and the massive use of drones in that context, coupled with the participation of a lot of foreigners in the foreign region, particularly Colombians, sort of helped spread the use of these devices," Breda said.

In 2024 in southern Cauca, a drone dropped a grenade that killed a 10-year-old boy and injured 12 civilians, the first known weaponised drone attack fatality in Colombia. In February 2025 in Cauca, a drone dropped an explosive near a temporary Médecins Sans Frontières hospital and injured several health workers. In August 2025 in Antioquia, a drone attack brought down a police helicopter and killed at least eight officers. In October 2025, a drone hit the house of the mayor of Calamar.

In December 2025, a drone strike on a military base killed seven soldiers and injured 30 more. That month, ACLED recorded at least four drone attacks on police stations in Cauca and on the military base in Cesar, in which at least five civilians were injured. In January 2026, ACLED recorded seven drone attacks against police and military units, all claimed by the ELN and Farc fighters. In February 2026 in Segovia, a drone dropped a mortar shell on a house, killing a mother and her two sons inside.

Earlier this month, a drone packed with explosives was found near Bogotá's international airport and an adjacent military base. The device was a fiber optic drone resistant to jamming and similar to those used in Russia's war against Ukraine.

"The old guerrillas tried a thousand times to get missiles and never succeeded," said Humberto de la Calle, Colombia's former vice-president. "With drones, I think strategically we are at a point where we must stop the ways we are being attacked from the air," he said. "This has never happened before in Colombia," de la Calle added.

Gen Federico Mejia, the army commander, accused fighters from a Farc dissident group of targeting civilians to pressure them to reject the presence of state military. In Putumayo, Indigenous leaders said armed actors used drones to intimidate residents by hovering above villages to assert control, according to Human Rights Watch. In Barrancabermeja, a drone followed and monitored a reporter during an interview about illegal armed groups, forcing the interview to be cut short.