A Pentagon plan to use a high-energy, counter-drone laser with out having coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration about potential dangers to civilian flights prompted Wednesday’s unprecedented airspace shutdown over El Paso, Texas, a number of sources instructed NCS.
A supply aware of the timeline of occasions mentioned that the US military used the laser know-how to shoot down 4 mylar balloons this week, contributing to the choice by the FAA to shut down native airspace.
Those accounts come because the Trump administration has claimed {that a} Mexican cartel drone crossing into US airspace is what triggered the 10-mile restriction centered on El Paso International Airport.
Late Tuesday, the FAA abruptly issued a short lived flight restriction that instantly grounded all flights up to 18,000 toes across the metropolis for 10 days, successfully shutting down El Paso International Airport.
Roughly eight hours later, the restriction was lifted. By the time the FAA had lifted the flight restrictions, airways had already issued travel waivers and notified clients of potential adjustments.
Multiple sources from the federal authorities and US airways instructed NCS that military exercise close to El Paso, together with US drones monitoring cartel operations and the Pentagon’s deliberate use of a high-energy laser designed to counter drones, raised rapid considerations for civilian site visitors arriving and departing El Paso International Airport. Fort Bliss and its airfield, Biggs Army Airfield, sit simply north of the business airport, which serves about 100 flights every day.
FAA and Pentagon officers had been scheduled to meet February 20 to evaluation potential impacts and mitigation measures for a take a look at of the laser system, a know-how the Pentagon has been testing in additional distant areas of the nation, a number of sources mentioned. But the Defense Department sought to use the system sooner round El Paso, prompting the FAA to impose the short-term flight restriction till that coordination might happen. The 10-day restriction would have expired on February 21, sooner or later after DoD and the FAA had been set to meet.
The FAA’s choice to shut the airspace was made with out telling the White House first, in accordance to individuals aware of the matter. The situation grew to become a subject of intense focus contained in the West Wing within the early morning hours of Wednesday, as Texas lawmakers pressed for solutions on why the airspace was instantly closed with out first alerting them.
An administration official mentioned Wednesday morning that the shutdown was triggered by Defense Department “action to disable” cartel drones. It’s unclear if the presence of drones may need led to the acceleration of the deployment of the laser system.
NCS reached out to the FAA and White House for remark concerning the differing explanations. The Pentagon on Wednesday continued to refer to the administration official’s assertion a couple of drone breach having prompted the airspace closure.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted to social media crediting the FAA and Defense Department with performing “swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.”
“The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region,” he wrote on X.
Incursions alongside the southern border are extraordinarily frequent and traditionally don’t immediate such airspace closures. In 2024, for instance, Air Force Gen. Greg Guillot, the commander of NORTHCOM, instructed the Senate Armed Services Committee that the variety of incursions alongside the US Mexico border was “over a thousand” every month.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and different US safety businesses have used services on the Biggs Army Airfield for years as a part of efforts to monitor Mexico-based drug cartel operations, present and former US officers mentioned.
El Paso, with a inhabitants of practically 700,000, is the sixth-largest metropolis in Texas and one of many 25 largest within the United States. It is a hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.
Nearly 3.5 million passengers handed by way of El Paso International Airport within the first 11 months of 2025, in accordance to its web site. The airport describes itself because the gateway to West Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico.
The US military has been testing laser-based air defenses towards drones in current months. Last summer season, the Army carried out a live-fire exercise utilizing directed power weapons alongside extra conventional air protection programs at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. And final fall, the Army put out a request to business for concepts on a counter-drone Enduring-High Energy Laser (E-HEL) weapon system.
Security personnel at El Paso International Airport on February 11, 2026. – Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
Confusion over flight restrictions
In the preliminary flight restrictions, the FAA labeled the realm round El Paso as “(National) Defense Airspace” and mentioned pilots who violated the restriction might be intercepted, detained and questioned by legislation enforcement.
It warned that extra actions might be taken for pilots who don’t adhere to the restrictions, together with suspension of flight certifications, prison costs, and that the US authorities “may use deadly force” if an plane poses an “imminent security threat.”
The sudden FAA restrictions appeared to catch pilots and air site visitors controllers without warning.
Audio from LiveATC.internet caught the second pilots had been made conscious of the grounding.
“Just pass it on to everybody else, at 06:30 for the next 10 days, we’re all at a ground stop,” a controller mentioned.
A pilot replied, “OK, ground stop 06:30 for how long?”
“Ten days,” the controller replied.
“So the airport is totally closed?” the pilot mentioned, chuckling.
The controller replied, “Apparently, we just got informed about 30 minutes to an hour ago.”
“So for 10 days you guys are not open,” the pilot mentioned, in disbelief.
“Well, we’ll be here, but no air traffic,” the controller mentioned.
“OK,” the pilot mentioned whereas laughing.
Samuel, a traveler in El Paso, instructed NCS affiliate KFOX he was doing a e book tour with a shopper and didn’t get any notification from his airline.
“I just kind of saw all the cops here and the news cameras,” he mentioned. “I gotta figure out what’s going on if there’s another airport that’s not in El Paso, and try to figure out and rent a car out.”
Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas instructed reporters Wednesday that the closure of the El Paso International Airport was solely a FAA choice and that native officers — together with members of Congress — had been left fully at midnight earlier than it occurred.
She confused that she was not notified upfront regardless of representing the congressional district that’s dwelling to the airport, Fort Bliss and the broader El Paso group.
“They did not alert the El Paso city manager or the El Paso mayor,” Escobar mentioned on a press name Wednesday morning. “Everyone locally on the ground was in the dark, and the impact, obviously, is highly consequential.”
The Associated Press and NCS’s Evan Perez, Kevin Liptak, Kit Mayer, Camila DeChalus, Karina Tsui, and Diego Mendoza contributed to this report.
This headline and story have been up to date with extra developments.
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