Pentagon shoots down Customs and Border Protection drone in Texas, federal officials say

The Defense Department on Wednesday shot down a U.S. Customs and Border Protection drone in southwest Texas, federal officials confirmed.

A U.S. official said a laser weapon was used to down the drone, which occurred in the area of Fort Hancock, a small community located on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This reported engagement occurred when the Department of War employed counter-unmanned aircraft system authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system operating within military airspace,” the Defense Department, CBP and the FAA said in a joint statement late Thursday night. The Department of War is the White House’s preferred term for the Defense Department. 

“The engagement took place far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity,” the statement said.

In a previous statement provided to CBS News Thursday night, the FAA indicated that an incident had prompted it to expand a temporary flight restriction that was already in place around Fort Hancock. The temporary flight restriction was issued for “Special Security Reasons,” the FAA said.

The FAA said the flight restriction was not impacting commercial flights.

Democratic Reps. Rick Larsen, André Carson and Bennie Thompson, all members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said in a joint statement, “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.” They pointed to lack of coordination between the agencies. 

This marks the second time this month that the U.S. military’s use of drones near the southern border in Texas has prompted airspace flight restrictions.

On Feb. 11, the FAA sparked chaos when it briefly closed airspace around El Paso over a safety disagreement with the Pentagon regarding military drone tests near Fort Bliss, which is adjacent to the El Paso International Airport and located about 50 miles northwest of Fort Hancock. Sources at the time said the drone tests involved a high-energy laser.

The FAA initially announced that it would shutter El Paso’s commercial airspace for a period of 10 days, but then backtracked and reopened the airspace just hours later. White House officials told CBS News that the closure was triggered by Mexican cartel drones breaching U.S. airspace.