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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted flights Thursday near Fort Hancock, Texas, after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone was reportedly shot down by a laser sytem operated by the Pentagon.
While government agencies have not identified who the drone belonged to, top Democrats on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released a joint statement Thursday evening claiming the drone belonged to CBP.
U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen, Bennie Thompson and Andre Carson said their “heads are exploding over the news” that a CBP drone was shot down by the Pentagon with “a high risk counter-unmanned aircraft system.”
The legislators added that this incident is “the result of [the White House’s] incompetence” after a “short-sighted” 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.”
The FAA expanded a temporary flight restriction near Fort Hancock, Texas, after lawmakers said a Pentagon-operated counter-drone system may have shot down a U.S. government drone. (iStock)
In a joint statement provided to Digital, the Department of War, CBP and the FAA said the DoW used counter-unmanned aircraft system to respond to a “seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace.”
The departments said the engagement took place “far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity,” adding they “will continue to work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future.”
The departments said they are “working together in an unprecedented fashion to mitigate drone threats by Mexican cartels and foreign terrorist organizations at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“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.
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Congressional aides told Reuters that the Pentagon reportedly used the high-energy laser system to accidentally shoot down the CBP drone near the Mexican border, an area that frequently sees incursions from drones believed to be operated by Mexican drug cartels.
The FAA told Digital that a temporary flight restriction (TFR) was “already in place” around the Fort Hancock area and that the TFR “has been expanded to include a greater radius to ensure safety.”
The restriction does not impact commercial flights, the agency said.
The FAA said in a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) that airspace around Fort Hancock was temporarily restricted for “special security reasons.”
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The restriction comes a couple of weeks after the FAA grounded flights to and from El Paso International Airport for 10 days before lifting the order roughly eight hours later.
Drones operated by Mexican drug cartels breached American airspace earlier this month near El Paso International Airport in Texas, leading the FAA to temporarily close the airport. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
A Trump administration official previously told that the initial lockdown came in response to “Mexican cartel drones” that breached U.S. airspace.
A U.S. official later confirmed that the U.S. military had shot down what was later determined to be a party balloon near El Paso.
Digital reached out to the White House for comment and was directed to the joint statement provided by the Department of War, Customs and Border Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration.
Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Reuters contributed to this report.
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