Cartel drones a serious threat
That is not to make light of drone incursions. This is a real issue along the US border with Mexico, where cartels increasingly fly drones for surveillance. They are particularly useful for pinpointing the location of US Border Patrol agents to assist the cartel in smuggling non-citizens across the border into the United States.
One of the many lessons from the war in Ukraine, which has rapidly pushed forward drone technology in contested environments, is that it is not practical to shoot down drones with conventional missiles. So it is understandable that the US military is looking at alternatives. This all culminated in some sort of snafu between the FAA and military officials regarding coordination with this week’s test.
Whether it was genuine concern about air travelers, a show of force, a fit of pique, or something else, the FAA decided on Tuesday evening to take the extraordinary step of abruptly closing an airport that serves more than 3 million passengers a month. The proposed 10-day closure of the airport was remarkably long.
Moreover, this action was taken without consulting local or state officials in Texas—who are understandably outraged—or reportedly even the White House.
“I want to be very, very clear that this should’ve never happened,” El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said during a news conference on Wednesday. “That failure to communicate is unacceptable.”