The Pentagon announced on March 6 that it will conduct coordinated testing with the Federal Aviation Administration in New Mexico over the upcoming weekend to evaluate a high-energy laser system designed to counter threatening unmanned aircraft.
According to the Pentagon, the planned event will focus on addressing safety concerns raised by the FAA while collecting data on the laser’s material effects on aircraft surrogates. The statement framed the activity as both a safety-directed exercise and a data-gathering operation about how the laser interacts with representative aircraft materials.
The tests come after an incident on February 25 in which U.S. military forces unintentionally shot down a government drone using a laser-based anti-drone capability. That event prompted the FAA to expand an area around Fort Hancock, Texas, where flights were restricted. The FAA had earlier on February 18 issued an order halting all flights at the nearby El Paso, Texas airport for 10 days, but that halt was rescinded after about eight hours.
The Pentagon’s announcement emphasized the specific intent to work with the FAA to ensure aviation safety concerns are addressed during the New Mexico event, and to gather empirical data on how the laser impacts aircraft surrogates during testing.
Context and next steps
The upcoming weekend testing will concentrate on reconciling FAA safety requirements with the military’s efforts to evaluate the operational effects of the high-energy laser on surrogate aircraft materials. Details about the duration or exact scope of the testing were not included beyond the stated goal of addressing FAA safety concerns while gathering material-effect data.
What remains limited in the public information
- Specific technical parameters of the laser testing were not provided.
- The Pentagon’s release did not enumerate the types of aircraft surrogates to be used.
- No timeline beyond the reference to the upcoming weekend was supplied for follow-up actions or additional testing.