Due to drones or party balloon? Stir over airport closure in El Paso
El Paso International Airport in Texas was closed for ten days on Wednesday, only to be reopened hours later. Reports on the incident are contradictory.
(Image: Jeff Schultes/Shutterstock.com)
In the USA, the sudden closure of the international airport in the major city of El Paso, Texas, is causing a stir, primarily because the government's statements and media reports about the reasons differ significantly. Furthermore, the airspace closure responsible for the shutdown was initially set for ten days, an unprecedentedly long period for such a large airport. However, the airport was reopened after just ten hours. According to the US Secretary of Transportation, a drone attack by a drug cartel had been neutralized. The New York Times, however, reports that the closure was due to an insufficiently prepared deployment of an anti-drone laser, which then only brought down a “party balloon” from the sky.
Drone shot down – or party balloon?
The airspace closure and the resulting airport shutdown were ordered yesterday, Wednesday, without any prior warning by the US aviation authority FAA. In a live ticker from the El Paso Times, one can read how unprepared the politicians in the city on the border with Mexico were: representatives tried to obtain information about the background. The long period for which the measure was originally ordered caused particular concern. The closure was then lifted just as suddenly after a few hours, and the US Secretary of Transportation, responsible for FAA oversight, Sean Duffy, then wrote on X about the alleged drone attack. He assured that there was no longer any danger.
Citing several anonymous sources, The New York Times is now reporting, however, that the US military used an anti-drone laser without coordinating it with the US aviation authority. For security reasons, the FAA therefore quickly closed the airspace for ten days. While those responsible for the anti-drone weapon now say that devices used by drug cartels for smuggling across the border were shot down, several sources have assured that only a party balloon was shot down. None of the responsible ministries or the FAA have commented on this.
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The US magazine ArsTechnica points out that drones at the border between the USA and Mexico are a major problem. Drug cartels try to use them to locate US border patrol sites to hide their activities from them. However, the exact reason why the FAA decided on this drastic step is unclear. El Paso's mayor has sharply criticized the move. In Germany, the Federal Police only recently set up a new unit to better and faster protect airports and other security-relevant locations from drones. Under certain circumstances, even the Bundeswehr is allowed to take action against such devices.
(mho)
