Whoops: US military laser strike takes down CBP drone near Mexican border

The US military mistakenly shot down a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone near the Mexican border in a strike that reportedly used a laser-based anti-drone system. The CBP uses drones to track people crossing the border.

“Congressional aides told Reuters the Pentagon used the high-energy laser system to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone near the Mexican border, in an area that often has incursions from Mexican drones used by drug cartels,” Reuters reported last night.

The FAA closed some airspace along the border with Mexico in Fort Hancock, Texas, on Thursday with a notice announcing temporary flight restrictions for special security reasons. The restrictions are in place until June 24 but could be lifted earlier. There are conflicting reports on which day the strike happened, with The New York Times reporting that the strike occurred Thursday and Bloomberg writing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “was notified Wednesday after the event occurred.”

“The Defense Department didn’t realize the drone was being flown by CBP when it shot it down,” and “had not first coordinated the use of the laser system with the US Federal Aviation Administration,” Bloomberg wrote, citing anonymous sources.

The military hasn’t been coordinating counter-drone measures with the FAA, and “CBP drone operators didn’t inform the military’s laser unit that it was launching,” Bloomberg wrote, citing anonymous sources. Because the CBP didn’t notify the Defense Department, the military viewed the aircraft as “an unknown drone,” the Times wrote, citing an unnamed Pentagon official.

Two laser strikes in February

The latest incident came about two weeks after the FAA abruptly closed airspace over El Paso for a few hours, leading to flight cancellations. In the early February incident, CBP was the one that fired the laser. The CBP was “using the same technology on loan from the military to combat drug-smuggling” and “fired a high-energy laser at what they thought was a drone,” but turned out to be a party balloon, the Times wrote.

“In both cases, the lasers were used without the FAA’s approval, which many aviation safety experts maintain is a violation of the law,” the Times wrote.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the Trump administration. “The Trump administration’s incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, said in a statement provided to Ars. Duckworth said, “The situation is alarming and demands a thorough, independent investigation.”

A spokesperson for Duckworth told Ars they are “waiting for answers” regarding details of the incident. Duckworth’s office and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation were not notified of the incident, the spokesperson said.

“On the heels of the NTSB confirming that the failure of DoD and FAA to effectively communicate resulted in the tragic loss of life above DCA, we now see that—a full year later—dysfunction continues to endanger our aviation system, from DoD dismissing FAA safety warnings against allowing DHS to use its counter drone laser system, to now DoD reportedly using its high energy laser C-UAS to shoot down a DHS drone paid for by taxpayers,” Duckworth’s statement said.

“Our heads are exploding,” Democrats say

Another statement was issued by US Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who hold leadership roles on the House Transportation Committee and its subcommittees.

“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 three lawmakers said. “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. Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence.”

The Pentagon, CBP, and FAA confirmed some details of the incident in a joint statement provided to Ars by the Pentagon today. The statement said the “engagement occurred when the Department of War employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace. The engagement took place far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity.”

The agencies said they are working together at President Trump’s direction “to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the US-Mexico Border.” Following the mistake, “agencies will continue to work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future,” the statement said.

“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 agencies said.

The statement did not mention that the drone was a CBP drone, and the Pentagon declined to provide further details to Ars.