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Army Uses High-Energy Laser to Blast Cartel Drones Out of the Sky Near Texas Border
In a border-security first, US troops used a prototype high-energy laser weapon to shoot down three cartel drones spying on American forces along the Rio Grande — a sign of how fast the fight against cartel surveillance is escalating.
US troops used a high-energy laser weapon to shoot down three drones operated by Mexican drug cartels overnight in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the US military confirmed this week — believed to be the first operational use of the directed-energy system against cartel targets at the southern border.
Joint Task Force-Southern Border, working under US Northern Command, said personnel used the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) to "engage and defeat" three hostile unmanned aircraft systems overnight between August 25 and 26, according to a Defense Department release and reporting from CBS News.
The AMP-HEL is a 20-kilowatt-class prototype system built by AeroVironment, mounted on a General Motors Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle. Instead of firing bullets or missiles, it burns targets out of the sky with a focused beam of energy — a technology the Pentagon has tested for years but rarely deployed operationally until now.
Why It Matters
Officials say cartel networks have increasingly turned to drones not just to smuggle drugs and people, but to actively spy on US troops and Customs and Border Protection agents working the border. "Cartel networks are increasingly employing unmanned aircraft systems to facilitate illicit human smuggling and actively spy on our personnel and law enforcement partners," Army Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of Joint Task Force-Southern Border, said in a statement reported by Military Times.
"THE SHOTS WERE TAKEN IN COORDINATION WITH ALL PARTNERS OPERATING ALONG THE BORDER."
A USNORTHCOM spokesperson told CBS News the strikes were coordinated with "all partners operating along the border," but the military has not said whether the drones were destroyed over US or Mexican soil, and did not release the exact strike location.
The incident is likely to fuel debate in Washington over how aggressively the military should be authorized to act against cartel infrastructure — and whether directed-energy weapons, long a subject of Pentagon research funding, are now becoming a routine part of border operations rather than an experimental one-off.