Laser weapon cuts suspected cartel drone flights 75% along Texas border, officials say

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas — Drone flights probing the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas have fallen by about 75% in less than two weeks since the military first used a high-energy laser to destroy suspicious aircraft, officials told CBS News. The Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser system, also known as AMP-HEL, made its operational debut Aug. 25 and 26 when troops with Joint Task Force-Southern Border downed three drones in the Rio Grande Valley. Officials said the small, commercially available aircraft were linked to Mexican cartels and were being used to watch U.S. troops and Customs and Border Protection agents and to support smuggling. Before the laser was fielded for live intercepts, units typically jammed the drones and forced them back across the line. That approach often proved temporary. 'When you just send it back and then it comes back up or is defeated temporarily, but the game changer is ensuring that that tool can't be used again against you,' Army Col. Robert Felicio, commander of the 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, told CBS News. Felicio said activity dropped significantly after the laser entered the fight. Officials cautioned that cartels may also be shifting routes or methods, but they noted the decline followed the first successful shoot-downs. Since Jan. 1, the military has intercepted about 300 drones it believes were tied to cartels. Eleven of those were destroyed by the laser over a 10-day stretch. Commanders have not released a current daily count of incursions in the valley. In 2024, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, then head of U.S. Northern Command, told Congress the southern border saw roughly 1,000 drone incursions a month. The laser's path to operational use was rocky. In February, a test near Fort Bliss prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close airspace around El Paso International Airport after a laser was fired at what turned out to be a metallic balloon, not a hostile drone. Officials said they now coordinate regularly with the FAA before and after each engagement to keep civilian aviation clear. Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of Joint Task Force-Southern Border, has said cartels increasingly use drones for surveillance and human smuggling. He described the laser as part of a layered defense that includes jamming and other tools. The system in use is a version of AeroVironment's Locust high-energy laser, a vehicle-mounted directed-energy weapon designed to detect, track and burn through small unmanned aircraft. A Joint Task Force-Southern Border spokesman said multiple systems are now deployed along the border. The Army this week awarded AeroVironment a $465 million contract for high-energy lasers, its first of that type. Officials did not specify whether the recent intercepts occurred over U.S. or Mexican territory. They said they are coordinating with Mexican authorities on tracking threats. The military has framed the southern border as both a security mission and a proving ground for counter-drone technology as cheap commercial aircraft proliferate among criminal groups.