A US military-owned surveillance blimp operated by Customs and Border Protection contractors close to Laredo, Texas, broke free from its tether on Monday night and later crashed in Mexico.
The blimp didn’t carry a crew when in the air, and no floor personnel have been injured in the incident.
The 66-foot surveillance blimp’s tether cable, which secures the balloon to the floor, turned tangled with different cables amid storms on Monday, a spokesperson for Joint Task Force-Southern Border, confirmed in a press release to NCS.
That night, a close-by airport skilled heavy thunderstorms that introduced wind gusts as excessive as 44 miles per hour, in accordance to National Weather Service information.
The plane’s operators tried to untangle the cables, the spokesperson mentioned, however the helium-filled blimp “became untethered” and floated away. The military declined to say which particular mannequin of balloon was lost, solely describing the plane as a “medium aerostat.”
CBP operates surveillance blimps across the region. Some are outfitted with high-powered cameras, and others carry radar techniques that detect drones and different plane operated by smugglers.
The runaway balloon’s location was unknown till Mexico’s military found it “in a remote location … southwest of Laredo,” in accordance to the spokesperson. Mexican and US troops are coordinating to get well the aerostat.
A CBP spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Border Patrol started utilizing small “tactical” blimps for surveillance in 2012, however the program has periodically run out of funding. Many of the plane belong to the Department of Defense, which spent greater than $5 billion to develop and buy greater than 140 surveillance blimps throughout the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in accordance to a Government Accountability Office report revealed in 2012.
CBP lost an even larger surveillance blimp in March 2025, when a 200-foot aerostat working on South Padre Island, Texas, broke free from its tether and floated practically 600 miles earlier than careening into energy strains close to Dallas.
CPB, which oversees Border Patrol, performs a vital function in President Donald Trump’s efforts to safe the US-Mexico border and prohibit unlawful immigration.
Trump’s emphasis on hardening the border has introduced CBP a litany of military manpower and gear as nicely, typically with unintended penalties.
In February, CBP’s use of a high-energy anti-drone laser system furnished by the Pentagon to shoot down balloons led the Federal Aviation Administration to immediately shut down civilian airspace over El Paso, Texas.
Davis Winkie’s work at NCS is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). NCS retains full editorial management of the reporting.