Drone Wars, Episode II: Clone of the Strike (again of military lasers against the wrong targets in El Paso airspace) – Jalopnik

Remember when the US military had the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) use its anti-drone laser weapon to shoot down a Mexican cartel drone, which actually turned out to be a party balloon, which then also caused the FAA to close the airspace around El Paso, Texas? It would certainly be bad, and also unlikely, and also a bit funny, if the military fired the laser just weeks later with the CBP’s own dronesonce again close to El Paso airspace, forcing another FAA shutdown. Um…here we are. The government machinery is working fine, thank you.

According to the New York TimesThe laser weapon was fired again Thursday without FAA approval. The army had detected a drone near the border and decided to take quick action. Although the military had hit its target, that target turned out to be CBP’s. So instead of shooting down a cartel drone crossing the border, he shot down an American drone patrolling the border. That’s already a bad start, but then the FAA finally got word that the military was once again firing lasers at the wrong targets. Last time, the aviation agency closed El Paso’s airspace for 10 days, an enormous length of time not seen since September 11 (although the situation was lifted just a few hours later). This time, nearby Fort Hancock airspace will be closed four whole months. Like I said, the government machinery works fine. Thanks for asking a second time.

That said, the Department of Defense, CBP and the FAA issued a joint statement Thursday evening. They put on a brave face and declared that this was all to mitigate “an apparently threatening” drone and that the agencies are now all “working together in an unprecedented way.” That rings true, in that CBP’s own drone must have looked threatening on an Army radar screen, and boy is this all unprecedented. In public, everything is officially fine. Behind the scenes, it sounds like the Pentagon is enthusiastic about using pew lasers, the CPB doesn’t tell anyone about its drone activities, and the FAA isn’t taking any risks.

All kidding aside, this whole situation is extremely dangerous. If the military is going to use high-energy weapons against air targets, it must find a way to ensure it understands what target it is firing at and make absolutely sure it does not endanger other aircraft. Hopefully a few high-profile embarrassments like these will lead to operational changes. Otherwise we’ll be back here in a few weeks and it might be a lot less funny.