U.S. Northern Command has disclosed that Army personnel used a Multipurpose High Energy Laser system to bring down three drones near the U.S.-Mexico border, in a rare operational deployment of directed-energy weaponry against low-cost aerial threats. The drones were described by officials as cartel-linked and were intercepted during late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning activity in the Rio Grande Valley area of southern Texas.
Joint Task Force-Southern Border, working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, treated the aircraft as hostile because they were supporting activity that posed a physical threat to military and CBP personnel. Officials did not identify the cartel involved, confirm the exact strike point or say whether the drones were flying over U.S. or Mexican airspace.
The disclosure highlights a further escalation in counter-drone operations along the southern border, where military and border agencies have increasingly focused on small unmanned aircraft used for surveillance and smuggling support. It also provides one of the first public examples of an operational laser shootdown by U.S. forces rather than a test or demonstration.