The US military mistakenly shot down a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone near the Mexican border in a strike that reportedly used a laser-based anti-drone system. The CBP uses drones to track people crossing the border.
"Congressional aides told Reuters the Pentagon used the high-energy laser system to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone near the Mexican border, in an area that often has incursions from Mexican drones used by drug cartels," Reuters reported last night.
[...] "The Defense Department didn't realize the drone was being flown by CBP when it shot it down," and "had not first coordinated the use of the laser system with the US Federal Aviation Administration," Bloomberg wrote, citing anonymous sources.
The military hasn't been coordinating counter-drone measures with the FAA, and "CBP drone operators didn't inform the military's laser unit that it was launching," Bloomberg wrote, citing anonymous sources. Because the CBP didn't notify the Defense Department, the military viewed the aircraft as "an unknown drone," the Times wrote, citing an unnamed Pentagon official.
The latest incident came about two weeks after the FAA abruptly closed airspace over El Paso for a few hours, leading to flight cancellations. In the early February incident, CBP was the one that fired the laser. The CBP was "using the same technology on loan from the military to combat drug-smuggling" and "fired a high-energy laser at what they thought was a drone," but turned out to be a party balloon, the Times wrote.
"In both cases, the lasers were used without the FAA's approval, which many aviation safety experts maintain is a violation of the law," the Times wrote.
[...] The Pentagon, CBP, and FAA confirmed some details of the incident in a joint statement provided to Ars by the Pentagon today. The statement said the "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 engagement took place far away from populated areas and there were no commercial aircraft in the vicinity."
[...] The statement did not mention that the drone was a CBP drone, and the Pentagon declined to provide further details to Ars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by epitaxial on Monday March 02, @03:27PM (3 children)
From this shit show administration. Maybe picking ass kissers over actual qualified people is a bad idea? No wonder the FAA closed an airport for 10 days. They knew these morons could accidentally take out a passenger aircraft and then blame Biden/Obama/Hillary.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday March 02, @04:09PM
From the Nooze:
Why do the mainstream media act as if Donald Trump isn't a pathological liar with dozens of felony fraud convictions?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 03, @03:07PM (1 child)
What, you expect military types from any era to not have been trigger happy? Especially when they know what they're shooting at is unmanned.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 03, @03:10PM
I missed the obligatory "Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Username on Monday March 02, @05:40PM (3 children)
>"In both cases, the lasers were used without the FAA's approval, which many aviation safety experts maintain is a violation of the law," the Times wrote
The military doesn't require FAA permission to protect the nation. It also does require FAA permission to scramble jets or launch nuclear missiles. I have no idea why the times would think the FAA can dictate to the military when to wage war. What is next, need FAA permission to invade Iran?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02, @06:18PM
between "FAA permission" and "FAA coordination"
and the last time I checked there is no Congress-approved war that extends to the boarders of the continental United States.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 02, @06:33PM
When was there a declared war with Mexico?
When do we start shooting down planes or blowing up cars with "Illegal Aliens" in them?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 02, @07:38PM
> It also does require FAA permission to scramble jets or launch nuclear missiles.
I suspect it's more tradition to ask, because launching a nuclear missile into the belly of an L10-11 isn't likely to enable the missile to perform its intended function. Same for scrambing jets across crowded commercial lanes.
If the FAA gives them any lip, the military can do more than buzz the tower.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 02, @07:41PM
The most telling aspect of this story, to me, is that Mexican drug cartels appear to have somewhat of a drone superiority position over Customs and Border Patrol.
It's our own damn fault - over-regulating drone development and use for the past 20 years. And, if anybody sees this as a clear political red-blue line, it's not. The party that's proposing a 50% $500B funding increase for our military (mostly coming from debt) is the same one "protecting our military" by not permitting/encouraging civilian development/marketing of commercial drones.
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Troll) by Captival on Monday March 02, @09:59PM
Thanks Anonymous Source, Anonymous Source, Anonymous Source and Anonymous Source. We couldn't have done it without you.