El Paso’s skies went dark Wednesday—not from weather, not from cartel drones—but because the Pentagon decided to test a high-energy counter-drone laser without coordinating with the FAA. The result: a sudden, eight-hour shutdown of El Paso International Airport that left pilots, passengers, and lawmakers scrambling.
Citing multiple source, CNN reported that the U.S. military fired the laser at four mylar balloons earlier this week. That alone triggered the FAA to impose a temporary flight restriction over a 10-mile radius around the airport. The Trump administration, meanwhile, pushed the narrative that a Mexican cartel drone incursion caused the shutdown. Sources say it was the Pentagon’s laser experiment that grounded nearly 100 daily commercial flights.
The FAA’s 10-day restriction—issued late Tuesday and lifted less than a day later—caught airlines, air traffic controllers, and even the White House off guard. “Just pass it on to everybody else, at 06:30 for the next 10 days, we’re all at a ground stop,” a controller told pilots over LiveATC.net. Pilots responded in disbelief: “So the airport is totally closed?”
Military activity near El Paso, including drones monitoring cartel operations and the laser’s deployment at Fort Bliss and Biggs Army Airfield, contributed to the FAA’s sudden move. Officials say the FAA and Pentagon had a meeting scheduled for February 20 to discuss civilian flight risks, but the DoD pushed to use the system sooner—prompting the emergency restriction.
The decision reportedly bypassed the White House entirely, igniting a scramble among Texas lawmakers. Rep. Veronica Escobar said Wednesday, “They did not alert the El Paso city manager or the El Paso mayor. Everyone locally on the ground was in the dark, and the impact, obviously, is highly consequential.”
Administration officials stuck with the drone story, claiming the shutdown neutralized a threat. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X, “The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.” As expected, the internet didn’t buy it.
El Paso International Airport, a hub for West Texas and northern Mexico, handles 3.5 million passengers annually. The sudden closure exposed a dangerous gap in coordination: experimental military lasers can freeze civilian air traffic without warning, leaving the public and local officials entirely unprepared.
Border incursions are routine, over a thousand per month according to Air Force Gen. Greg Guillot, but rarely cause such chaos. Wednesday, nearly 700,000 residents and countless travelers learned that in the Pentagon’s world, lasers come first and communication comes last.
