"Driving the news: Trump administration officials claimed a "cartel drone incursion" had necessitated a military response, which in turn led the FAA to order the extraordinary 10-day airspace closure. It was lifted hours later. Multiple sources told Axios that, in fact, the FAA reacted because a counter-drone weapon had been fired without sufficient coordination. In a further twist, a source familiar with the incident told Axios that while the weapon belongs to the military, it was actually fired by Customs and Border Protection."
"The big picture: Militaries have been exploring directed-energy weapons for decades, and the Pentagon invested around $1 billion annually into the tech in recent years, but frontline use has not yet become widespread. An Emerging Technologies Institute study published in January 2024 logged more than two dozen directed-energy projects underway across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Plans for the forthcoming Trump-class battleships involve far more powerful lasers - anywhere from 300-600kW, versus 20kW for LOCUST."
FAA ordered an extraordinary 10-day airspace closure that was lifted hours later after a military counter-drone weapon was fired without sufficient coordination. The weapon involved was the LOCUST laser system, developed by BlueHalo and later acquired by AeroVironment. The weapon is owned by the military but was reportedly fired by Customs and Border Protection. Whether the laser actually downed a drone or whether a cartel incursion occurred remains unclear. The Pentagon has invested heavily in directed-energy weapons, with numerous projects across services and plans for much higher-power lasers on forthcoming battleships. The border mission is also being used to test networking and communications technologies.
Read at Axios
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]