The US military accidentally shot down a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone near the Mexican border, reportedly using a laser-based anti-drone system. CBP uses drones to monitor people crossing the border.
“Congressional aides told Reuters the Pentagon used a high-energy laser system to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone near the Mexican border, in an area that frequently sees incursions from Mexican drones used by drug cartels,” Reuters reported last night.
The FAA closed some airspace along the border with Mexico at Fort Hancock, Texas, on Thursday, announcing temporary flight restrictions due to special security reasons. The restrictions are in place until June 24 but may be lifted earlier. There are conflicting reports on what day the strike occurred, with the New York Times reporting that the strike occurred on Thursday and Bloomberg writing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “was notified on Wednesday after the incident occurred.”
Bloomberg wrote, citing anonymous sources, “The Defense Department did not realize the drone was being flown by CBP when it shot it down,” and “had not previously coordinated the use of the laser system with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.”
The Army is not coordinating anti-drone measures with the FAA, and “CBP drone operators did not notify the Army laser unit that they were launching,” Bloomberg wrote, citing unnamed sources. Because CBP did not notify the Defense Department, the military treated the aircraft as “an unidentified drone,” the Times wrote, citing an unnamed Pentagon official.
Two laser attacks in February
The latest incident comes nearly two weeks after the FAA suddenly closed El Paso’s airspace for a few hours, causing flight cancellations. In the incident that occurred in early February, it was CBP who fired the laser. The Times wrote, CBP was “using the same technology on loan from the Army to combat drug-smuggling” and “fired a high-energy laser at what they thought was a drone”, but it turned out to be a party balloon.
The Times wrote, “In both cases, the lasers were used without FAA approval, which many aviation safety experts consider a violation of the law.”
Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration. “The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies,” Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, said in a statement to ARS. “The situation is worrying and demands a thorough, independent investigation,” Duckworth said.
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