On Feb 26,2026 The US military used an anti-drone laser system to shoot down an unmanned aircraft operated by US customs and Border Protection in Texas.

The incident came weeks after the use of a laser system near El Paso led to confusion and exposed communication lapses among US agencies. There was a statement that said, “Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a customs and border protection drone using a high risk counter- unmanned aircraft system” (Feb 26, Muntean). So with this info, the DoD (United states department of defense) shot down a drone because they felt a threat.

The top democrat on the house committee, Rick Larsen along with Reps, Andre’ Carson and Bennie Thompson were notified of the shoot down Thursday through officials, a congressional source tells CNN. Something that was said during the resolve of the event, “We said MONTHS ago that the White House’s decision to sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train CUAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS and the FAA was a short- slighted idea. Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence” (Feb 26, Muntean). Given the statement they are basically saying they did not want this to go the wrong way and that it wasn’t a full thought at the time. 

CBP designed the laser to disrupt drones near El Paso, but it promoted the shut down of a large swath of airspace up to 18,000 feet over the city for 10 days. The senator gave a statement, “I will be calling on the Inspectors General of the DoD, Transportation, and HS to launch a joint investigation into the recent scandals in El Paso and now Fort Hancock” (Feb 26, Muntean). So not much info on this shoot down obviously, but the take out of this is that the violence that occurred was not okay.