US Military Accidentally Shoots Down Border Protection Drone With Laser (apnews.com) 39
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a "seemingly threatening" drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers said. The case of mistaken identity prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to close additional airspace around Fort Hancock, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of El Paso. The military is required to formally notify the FAA when it takes any counter-drone action inside U.S. airspace.
It was the second time in two weeks that a laser was fired in the area. The last time it was CBP that used the weapon and nothing was hit. That incident occurred near Fort Bliss and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at El Paso airport and the surrounding area. This time, the closure was smaller and commercial flights were not affected. The FAA, CBP and the Pentagon confirmed the incident in a joint statement, saying the military "employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace."
"At President Trump's direction, the Department of War, FAA, and Customs and Border Patrol 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 statement said. The report notes that 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024.
Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member on the Senate's Aviation Subcommittee, is calling for an independent investigation to look into the matter. "The Trump administration's incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies," Duckworth said.
It was the second time in two weeks that a laser was fired in the area. The last time it was CBP that used the weapon and nothing was hit. That incident occurred near Fort Bliss and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at El Paso airport and the surrounding area. This time, the closure was smaller and commercial flights were not affected. The FAA, CBP and the Pentagon confirmed the incident in a joint statement, saying the military "employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace."
"At President Trump's direction, the Department of War, FAA, and Customs and Border Patrol 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 statement said. The report notes that 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024.
Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the ranking member on the Senate's Aviation Subcommittee, is calling for an independent investigation to look into the matter. "The Trump administration's incompetence continues to cause chaos in our skies," Duckworth said.
Technically true. (Score:5, Insightful)
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NewwwYork City?
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Thanks for the chuckle. The 6-digit IDs check out. But wasn't the line "Pace picante sauce is made in San Antonio by the folks who know what picante sauce is supposed to taste like." Where does El Paso come in? (maybe that's what's actually on the jar? I don't know.) I am also disturbed by that fact that I remember that line in its entirety. I haven't watched significant broadcast TV/commercials in over a decate.
Re:Technically true. (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think folks realize how lawless this administration is or how it's going to impact their daily lives.
Then again we have Donald Trump on tape talking to Howard Stern about how he would cheerfully rape a 13-year-old girl. In the public doesn't seem to particularly care about that...
If it was just going to bite Trump voters in the ass I wouldn't care anymore. I'm too bitter and angry too care about saving them. But they're dragging me and my family down with them
Technically incorrect (Score:2)
Re:Technically incorrect (Score:4, Insightful)
saying he wouldn't fuck a 12 year old is not the same as saying he would fuck a 13 year old
He was asked what his upper age limit was and he said 12 year olds, a correction from his immediate before comment saying he has no age limit. So yes, the only logically correct way to parse his English sentence is that he would very much fuck a 13 year old.
Whether he means it or not is a different question, but either you are gaslighting or need to go back to school and learn how those greater than and less than symbols work and how they related to the world "limit".
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Re: Technically true. (Score:2)
It was a short while ago that we were commenting in the article about closing down airspace because of this laser and people were arguing that it would be impossible to mistake a drone for a plane. Now here a few weeks later a friendly drone has been mistaken for a foreign drone and the position doesn't seem so far fetched.
To be absolutely blunt, this is why the world thinks Americans are idiots. You would think with a pool of 380 million people they could find smarter people to do this... The fact that t
Re: Technically true. (Score:2)
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Or is a persistent inability to rely on voters understanding of even being able to vote in their best interests just a symptom of the problem?
They had no choice. (Score:2)
Interesting ... (Score:5, Informative)
The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a "seemingly threatening" drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection
The U.S. Military is threatened by unidentified DHS/CBP equipment and the Administration wonders why people are afraid of masked DHS/ICE agents. Seems like identification (and accountability) would be good all around. /rant
Makes one wonder why ICE/CBP Is Quietly Stockpiling Weaponry [newrepublic.com] - quadruple/double over 2024 (respectively):
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have formally approved contracts for at least a whopping $144 million in weapons, ammunition, and other accessories during Trump’s first year. The analysis—based on government contracting data—documents at least a fourfold increase for ICE and a doubling for CBP, relative to 2024, concluding that this will “build a heavily-armed domestic police force.”
Would make for a nice, loyal, private army going into the 2026 and 2028 elections ... /tin-foil-hat
Google: ICE weapon funding [google.com]
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IRS? I guess there's a building and a letterhead, but they can't be doing much now that their staff and funding is gone.
Re:Interesting ... (Score:4, Insightful)
IRS? I guess there's a building and a letterhead, but they can't be doing much now that their staff and funding is gone.
Much to the pleasure of rich people and large corporations who, more often than others, have complex tax returns that need experienced people at the IRS to review for fraud. Can't imagine why this administration, and Republicans in general, want to downsize the IRS. /s
The US vows to free the US (Score:1)
The even-better part (Score:5, Informative)
A few fun details from that report:
Drones have led to only 0.5 percent of apprehensions at a cost of $32,000 per arrest.
A Predator B drone engine cannot regularly handle its maximum flight of 20 hours; even 6 or 7 hours of operation per day would cut at least 15 years off the 20-year lifespans of such engines.
two of the CBP drones (18 percent of its fleet) have crashed within just 10 years of purchase—one because of human error in 2006 and another owing to a generator failure in 2014.
Each Predator B drone costs $17 million to purchase and $12,255 per flight hour to operate. [...] For comparison, manned aircraft with surveillance capabilities similar to the Predator B cost only about $1,500 to $2,000 per flight hour.
Shut yer yap and pay your tariffs, serf.
Apparently it had a gun. (Score:2)
The US military swears the ICE drone had a pistol and made threatening gestures with it, clearly a terrorist threat.
ICE swears the US military laser looked Mexican and refused to obey totally reasonable orders to 'go back where you came from'.
Liars Or Idiots? (Score:2)
The report notes that 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet of the southern border in the last six months of 2024.
27,000 flights. They have no clue how many drones it actually was. Could have been 3.
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Heck, given that the government apparently can't identify it's own equipment... they likely don't even know how many of those 27000 flights belonged to the bad guys. THAT could've been 3 as well.
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Can they tell birds and regular aircraft from drones? I have some doubts on that score. I am fairly sure they can tell a penguin or an ostrich from an aerial drone.
Re:can't wait (Score:4, Funny)
Can't wait until Hegseth actually shoots himself in the foot.
If he shoots himself in the foot it could be fatal considering the amount of time his feet are in his mouth.
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Stop, I can only get so etc etc
Hand the autonomous AI death controls to Grok! (Score:2)
How soon before... (Score:2)
How soon before they accidentally an airliner full of civilians?
Seriously, this is the STUPIDEST timeline
Airspace coordination is hard (Score:2)
But I place NO CREDENCE in this administration claim: "At President Trump's direction, the Department of War, FAA, and Customs and Border Patrol 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 way ICE has been operating, I'm sure they just launched it and presumed the rest of the airspace would clear itself. These are not competent people.
It's no longer paranoia (Score:2)
It's no longer paranoia to assume everything the government says is a lie, it is now simply cynicism built on experience.
Where was that laser located? (Score:2)
Was the laser mounted on the head of a shark?
This is why the "point defense can deal with it" i (Score:2)
I guarantee not a single potentially completely automated point defense turned on except at the most extreme states of emergency. Friendly fire would happen all day every day.
Which is why drones are so dangerous.
False. (Score:2)
They did not accidentally shoot it down. They shot it down on purpose. They were just wrong about what it was.