The US military has used a laser to shoot down a drone flying around the US-Mexico border owned by Customs and Border Protection.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace around Fort Hancock, with the military needing to formally notify the FAA. This is the second time in two weeks that a laser was fired in the area. Commercial flights were not affected by this shutdown. The first time the laser hit nothing, but this recent use of the laser has downed a drone.
Washington U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and two other top Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees released a joint statement denouncing the use of the laser and how they had been informed of the decision.
The statement reads, "Our heads are exploding over the news... the White House’s decision to sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train C-UAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS, and the FAA was a short-sighted idea. Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence."
Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has since called for an independent investigation into the use of the laser. She said, "The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies."
Josh Funk and Konstantin Toropin, writing in the Washington Post, suggested the drones along the border have been a recurring problem for Donald Trump's administration.
They wrote, "Drones already cause problems along the border. Cartels routinely use drones to deliver drugs across the Mexican border and surveil Border Patrol officers.
"Officials told Congress last summer that more than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet (500 meters) of the southern border in the last six months of 2024. The threat to planes from drones continues to increase along with the number of near misses around airports.
"Homeland Security estimates there are more than 1.7 million registered drones flying in the United States.Anti-drone systems can use radio signals to jam drones, or high-powered microwaves or laser beams like the ones that have been used in Texas that are capable of disabling the machines.
"Some others station small drones to take flight quickly and ram into threatening drones. And there are systems that use bullets, but those are more common on battlefields than in domestic use."