With European Union support, 24 border officers from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan successfully completed drone operator certification courses in September 2026, strengthening their capacity to monitor remote and mountainous border areas.

The courses were organized by UNODC in partnership with the Kyrgyz Aviation Institute under the EU-funded BOMCA 11 programme, implemented by a consortium led by ICMPD. Each course comprised 72 academic hours: 40 hours of online theory and 32 hours of practical flight training in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region.

Participants developed skills in flight safety, mission planning, and emergency procedures, and practiced border reconnaissance, day and night surveillance, thermal imaging and tracking simulated intruders. Exercises also focused on transmitting live video and coordinates to ground teams and guiding patrols during simulated operations. All 24 officers passed theoretical and practical examinations and received UAV (unmanned arial vehicle) operator licenses issued by the Kyrgyz Aviation Institute.