US military uses laser to down three Mexican cartel drones near border

The U.S. military used a laser in southern Texas' Rio Grande Valley to shoot down three Mexican drug cartel drones this week near the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. officials said on Thursday.



The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command said in a statement that the operation took place late Tuesday and early Wednesday and used the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser.



The military did not give the precise location of the strikes nor make clear whether it took place over U.S. or Mexican territory. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said any unilateral U.S. action on Mexican soil would be a grave breach of her country's sovereignty.



The military said the drones posed "a physical threat" to U.S. military and U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel.



"Cartel networks are increasingly employing unmanned aircraft systems to facilitate illicit human-smuggling and actively spy on our personnel and law enforcement partners," Major General Curtis Taylor, the commander of Joint Task Force–Southern Border, said in a statement.