The U.S. military used a high-energy laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone Thursday evening near Fort Hancock, Texas, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to expand flight restrictions in the area. The type of CBP drone shot down has not yet been released.
According to a joint statement from the Pentagon, FAA and CBP, the military “employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.”
The agencies said the incident occurred far from populated areas and that no commercial aircraft were in the vicinity at the time.
Following the downing of the drone, the FAA issued a TFR (FDC 6/1113) for Fort Hancock, Texas, which prohibits all aircraft operations in the area from the surface up to and including 17,999 feet MSL, with limited exceptions for approved medevac and search-and-rescue flights.
Earlier this month, a separate deployment of a laser-based counter-drone system near El Paso led the FAA to temporarily halt air traffic before lifting the restriction hours later.
Lawmakers said they were formally notified of the latest incident Thursday night. In a joint statement, U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen of Washington, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Andre Carson of Indiana criticized what they said was a lack of coordination between agencies.
“Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a high-risk counter-unmanned aircraft system,” the representatives wrote. “We said MONTHS ago that 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.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois called for an investigation by inspectors general at the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Transportation.
“The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies,” Duckworth told Reuters.
Despite criticisms from Democrats, the joint agency statement on the incident defended the administration.
“The bottom line is the Trump Administration is doing more to secure the border and crack down on cartels than any administration in history,” the statement added.
The New York Times reported that Pentagon officials said existing statutory authorities require the military to coordinate with the FAA before deploying counter-drone systems, but do not require FAA approval. The agencies said in their joint statement that they “will continue to work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future.”
“The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies” says Duckworth.
“The Biden/Mayorkas contempt for border security caused chaos on the ground for which the Trump administration is forced to redress.”
… there … I fixed it.
The above “correction” (post) is spot on! Typically, when we are forced to correct damage from the past, there is collateral damage [in the future]; someone ,somewhere is not going to be happy! I would much prefer the verification/validation of a system on “internal government systems” than to hope it works on a true foe when we really need it!!
Regardless of what the FAA knows or does…
Its just ridiculous that Border Patrol and the Military have no cross checks in place.
Lets waste more money is what it’s all about.
I’m sorry, but this just cracks me up.
Trump just held a press conference about war with Iran, and spent much of it talking about drapes and his ballroom. I guess those are the drapes of wrath??? (Credit: Paul Krugman)
We just had three F-15’s shot down by Kuwait. Is that Biden’s fault too?
Brilliant intragovernmental coordination. Is the military going to pay for the purchase of a new drone by border Patrol? Oops, I forgot — we the taxpayers pay for it!
How about requiring CBP to coordinate their UAP ops with whatever military anti-UAP organizations exist? Military anti-UAP ops should be expected along the border.