Overview
- House Democrats Rick Larsen, André Carson and Bennie Thompson said they were officially notified that a high‑energy counter‑drone system shot down a Customs and Border Protection aircraft.
- An FAA temporary flight restriction around Fort Hancock was expanded Thursday evening and is listed through late June, with the agency saying commercial flights are unaffected.
- In a joint statement, the Pentagon, FAA and CBP said DoD used counter‑UAS authorities to mitigate a seemingly threatening drone in military airspace and pledged improved cooperation.
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth called for immediate inspector general probes by Defense, Transportation and Homeland Security, citing persistent coordination failures affecting aviation safety.
- The incident follows an early‑February laser use near El Paso that triggered a brief airspace shutdown and was later reported to have struck a party balloon, as Pentagon official Mark Ditlevson defended the department’s FAA coordination under 130i authorities.