Posted on 02/26/2026 7:34:29 PM PST by Miami Rebel
The U.S. military shot down a Customs and Homeland Security drone on Thursday evening, which led to the abrupt closure of airspace over Fort Hancock, Texas, lawmakers said.
At 6:30 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration closed the airspace, citing “special security reasons.” The FAA’s official notice of the closure currently says the closure will remain in effect until June 24.
As it turns out, the “special security reasons” involved a friendly fire incident in which the U.S. military shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a laser-based anti-drone system.
Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, and other Democratic lawmakers on the panel said they were informed of the incident through official channels.
“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,” Larsen and the other Democrats said in a statement. “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 FAA noted that some airspace over Fort Hancock was already closed, and that the no-fly area was expanded after the military shot down the DHS drone.
On Feb. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration cryptically and suddenly announced the immediate closure of airspace over El Paso for, again, “special security reasons.” An anonymous Trump administration official told NBC News that “Mexican cartel drones” had breached U.S. airspace. However, CBS News reported that the closure was due to “disagreements over drone-related tests.”
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This and the El Paso incident indicate an urgent need for tighter coordination between various agencies. It doesn't need congressional committees, but Duffy and Noem and Hegseth need to hammer this out before someone gets killed.
People should have learned something from the American Airlines-Army Blackhawk tragedy last year.
(Interestingly, the El Paso shutdown was initially supposed to last ten days but then was rescinded within hours when it turned not to be a Mexican cartel attack. Why this one is to be for months is a mystery.)
Wonder if they thought it was a cartel drug drone or recon drone.
Oooops!
Excellent! We now know the system works! Customs and Border Protection should be notifying Fort Hancock they were flying a drone.
Opps! I hope nobody saw that!/s
Morons...
I’m assuming (actually maybe hoping) that the planners in our military are devoting a lot of thought to the “friend or foe” identification problems that will inevitably arise in the fog of the modern drone-rich battlefield,
Fort Hancock, which I knew pretty well in my youth, is in a part of Hudspeth County Texas that could easily be described as “desolate”. It has maybe 1 resident per square mile. It has more in common with the Moon than with a thriving metropolis.
A high tech version of the Esequiel Hernández incident from a few years ago. Military lighting things up on the border without coordinating with the Border Patrol.
Take this as good news. The anti-drone system works, and the DoD can’t be accused of rigging the test.
Tease.
Their heads did not explode.
I am very disappointed.
Poor unity of command can lead to blue on blue fire.
No doubt. The number of cartel drone flights along and across the border is staggering. Imagine trying to separate the wheat from the chaff in this...
In fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), CBP detected 34,682 drone flights within 500 meters of the US-Mexico border. That's 2,890 flights per month. In the last six months of 2024, over 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters of the border.I wonder if US drones carry IFF.In 2024, 27k in 6 months vs in 2025 35k in 12 months. There's overlap in those two time frames, but that seems like a big drop.
The Pentagon reports more than 1,000 drone incursions into US airspace along the border each month.
Frankly, I'm surprised there isn't a lot more friendly-fire on our own drones.
You are the MORON!!!!
Ship 100 units of this system and teams to operate them to the ME, pronto.
I also suspect we could make a VERY substantial sale to the Euros through the PURL initiative.
If the system’s targeting response time can be improved, those Russian, Russian, and Chinese hypersonic missiles are in trouble too. Granted, inclement weather is still a problem. Close up interceptions could be very “hairy”.
Stop Freepmailing me with filthy language and vile insults.
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