Overview
- The agreement, announced Friday, followed a joint safety review that found the laser system does not increase risk to passenger aircraft under prescribed controls.
- Officials tied the clearance to February incidents in Texas that shut or restricted airspace near El Paso and Fort Hancock after laser engagements, including one that downed a CBP drone.
- Testing at White Sands in early March fired the Army’s ~20 kilowatt laser at a grounded Boeing 767 fuselage for up to 8 seconds and reported no structural damage at maximum effective range.
- Task force officials and the manufacturer say the LOCUST system runs automated checks and will not fire if any safety interlock fails, adding a hard stop against unsafe shots.
- The agreement leaves who authorizes an engagement unresolved and scaling constrained by few fielded units, even as a unit was installed near Palm Beach International Airport in April and Pentagon counter‑drone funding grows.