U.S. military lasers down three cartel drones in South Texas border operation

The U.S. military used a high-energy laser to shoot down three drones linked to Mexican drug cartels along the Texas border with Mexico this week, the first publicly disclosed operational use of the weapon against cartel aircraft since American troops began patrolling the border in force last year.

The Joint Task Force-Southern Border, which operates under U.S. Northern Command in support of Customs and Border Protection, said personnel used the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser, known as AMP-HEL, to destroy the three unmanned aircraft during overnight operations on Aug. 25 and 26 in the Rio Grande Valley sector of South Texas. The task force determined the drones posed "a physical threat" to military and CBP personnel because of the illicit activity they were supporting, officials said, though the military did not disclose the drones' precise location or say whether the engagements occurred over U.S. or Mexican territory.

What happened

The strikes mark a shift from earlier, unintentional laser incidents at the border toward a declared, deliberate use of directed-energy weapons against cartel-operated aircraft. Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, the task force commander, framed the operation as evidence the border deployment is functioning as designed.

"The successful defeat of these adversarial drones is a direct testament to the readiness, vigilance, and technological edge of the JTF. Cartel networks are increasingly employing unmanned aircraft systems to facilitate illicit human-smuggling and actively spy on our personnel and law enforcement partners."

The AMP-HEL system pairs a 20-kilowatt-class laser, built by defense contractor AeroVironment and known as LOCUST, with a mobile vehicle platform, radar and command-and-control equipment. AeroVironment delivered the first two prototype units to the Army's Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office last September, mounted on General Motors Defense Infantry Squad Vehicles, after testing at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The laser is designed to burn through the airframes of small and medium drones at relatively short range, disabling them without the shrapnel risk of a kinetic interceptor such as a missile or gunfire — a feature the Army has emphasized for use near roads, ranchland and populated areas along the border. CBS News reported that the shots were coordinated with agencies operating along the border, and that the Pentagon has not released video or precise coordinates of the engagement, citing operational security.

The numbers

Roughly 8,000 U.S. service members are currently assigned to the Joint Task Force-Southern Border, spread across 1,954 miles of terrain from California to Texas, according to the task force's own release. Since the mission began in March 2025, troops have reinforced hundreds of miles of border obstacles, flown thousands of observation sorties and conducted tens of thousands of ground patrols in support of Customs and Border Protection.

The scale of the drone activity those troops are now confronting is large and growing. A 2023 letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa to federal agencies, drawing on Customs and Border Protection data, found that the Rio Grande Valley sector alone recorded more than 10,000 drone incursions and roughly 25,000 drone detections in a single year. Separately, researchers at the Brookings Institution have estimated that on the order of 1,000 drones cross from Mexico into the United States every month for reconnaissance alone, a volume that has made distinguishing hostile cartel aircraft from hobbyist or commercial drones one of the central operational challenges facing troops and CBP agents on the ground.

How we got here

The AMP-HEL's deployment to the border followed a rockier debut. In late February, soldiers using a similar laser system accidentally shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone near Fort Hancock, Texas, after the military had not coordinated the shot with the agency operating the aircraft, according to lawmakers briefed on the episode. That mistake came weeks after a separate incident in which CBP personnel used a loaned laser to shoot down Mylar balloons near El Paso, and it triggered temporary airspace closures that drew criticism from members of Congress and prompted the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration to formalize coordination procedures for future laser use near the border.

Cartel drone activity has been a growing focus of congressional oversight for several years. A House Homeland Security subcommittee held a hearing last year examining how drones are reshaping the department's border security, counter-narcotics and disaster-response missions, with lawmakers pressing officials on how quickly counter-drone technology could be fielded against traffickers. Brookings researcher Vanda Felbab-Brown has documented that cartels have flown surveillance drones for more than a decade and have, since roughly 2020, also weaponized them, including an October 2025 episode in which the Jalisco New Generation Cartel flew an explosive-laden drone into a prosecutor's office compound in Tijuana.

Who is affected

The most immediate stakeholders are the troops and CBP agents patrolling the Rio Grande Valley, a sector that has long recorded some of the heaviest drone traffic on the border because of its dense population centers, river crossings and cartel smuggling corridors. Ranchers, farmers and residents near the border in Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties have also periodically had to contend with temporary flight restrictions and airspace closures tied to counter-drone operations, a pattern that flared after February's accidental CBP drone shootdown and that officials will likely face again as laser use becomes more routine.

The episode also touches Mexico, where President Claudia Sheinbaum's government has repeatedly said any unilateral American military action on Mexican soil would violate the country's sovereignty. Because U.S. officials declined to specify whether the drones were destroyed over American or Mexican territory, the strikes carry diplomatic sensitivity even though the Pentagon has framed them strictly as defensive measures against threats to its own personnel.

Reaction and what's next

Beyond Taylor's statement, the Pentagon and Northern Command have offered little additional detail, and a spokesperson told reporters only that the shots were taken in coordination with partner agencies along the border. The Federal Aviation Administration, which was blindsided by February's laser incident and had to be notified after the fact, has since worked with the Pentagon on a formal safety agreement governing when and how the military notifies civil aviation authorities before firing directed-energy weapons near the border.

The task force did not say whether additional AMP-HEL units will be deployed elsewhere along the border or whether this week's engagements will become a regular tactic rather than an occasional one. Homeland security researchers expect cartel operators to respond by diversifying their tactics — flying at higher altitudes, using swarms of cheaper and more numerous drones, or shifting operations to sectors without laser coverage — a cat-and-mouse dynamic that has defined counter-drone efforts at the border for several years and shows no sign of resolving with a single laser strike.