The U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are working together to develop a joint program office for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to the Coast Guard's commandant.

Adm. Thad Allen told Aviation Week that the Coast Guard and CBP - both uniformed agencies within the Homeland Security Department - are working together on land-based unmanned aerial surveillance.

The agencies also have had talks with the Federal Aviation Administration about the U.S. military's UAV technology used in Iraq and how the Coast Guard, an armed service, could implement that in U.S. maritime security.

A joint program office would be a key step toward the agencies' collaboration, which they have suggested before publicly. The Coast Guard, which was testing two different types of UAVs for maritime surveillance - as well as looking for a replacement for its ship-based, vertical-takeoff UAV program - would formally join forces with CBP, which is developing its Predator UAVs for use on the Mexican border now and the Canadian border soon.

"We shouldn't be doing this independently," Allen said. "We shouldn't be doing this twice. We're making discoveries that can help each other."

The Coast Guard and CBP are still looking to use the Predator. The Coast Guard also is actively talking to the Navy about using the MQ-8B Fire Scout, a UAV that the Navy has been enthusiastically developing and which is also eyed by the Army for the Future Combat Systems program. But Allen reiterated how the Coast Guard has not been satisfied yet with developed UAVs' maritime radar technology.

"What we need out of a UAS, that we don't have, is a maritime radar," Allen said. "Our overall goal is very, very good maritime radar."

Customs and Border Patrol Predator UAV shown during test: General Atomic Aeronautical Systems