The Pentagon's anti-drone laser system fired repeatedly at an unidentified object near the Mexican border on Feb. 9 that turned out to be a party balloon, an incident that led the FAA to shut down El Paso's airspace entirely, "Hvylya" reports, citing The New York Times.
The LOCUST system, stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, had been deployed to combat drone surveillance by Mexican drug cartels. The FAA intended the airspace closure to last 10 days, but an alarmed White House quickly demanded it reopen.
The incident deepened tensions between the FAA and the Defense Department over the laser's safety record. On March 7 and 8, officials from both agencies gathered at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for a demonstration of the system with product specialists from its manufacturer, AeroVironment Inc.
The FAA sought assurance that the LOCUST would not pose a serious risk to an aircraft's structure or to a pilot's vision. The laser was tested in a variety of situations, including being fired at the body of a jet plane for eight seconds at full intensity.
"The laser caused no structural damage to the aircraft," said Lt. Col. Adam Scher, a spokesman for the Defense Department's joint interagency task force for countering drones. "The system acted exactly as was expected every time."
Behind the scenes, FAA officials spent weeks studying the impact of the demonstration, according to several people briefed on the review. The Pentagon continued to press them to sign off on the lasers as quickly as possible.
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