The U.S. military used a high-energy laser to destroy three drones near the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Texas, in an operation conducted late Tuesday and early Wednesday in the Rio Grande Valley, according to C4ISRNET, which cited U.S. officials.

The system used was the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser, or AMP-HEL. The operation was conducted by Joint Task Force-Southern Border under U.S. Northern Command and in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

A task-force release said personnel used AMP-HEL to “engage and defeat three hostile UAS” that posed “a physical threat” to U.S. military personnel and Customs and Border Protection personnel. Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of Joint Task Force-Southern Border, said cartel networks are increasingly using unmanned aircraft to support illicit human-smuggling activity and spy on U.S. personnel and law-enforcement partners.

The operation was reported near the U.S.-Mexico border, but the military has not disclosed the precise location of the engagements or whether they occurred over U.S. or Mexican territory. It also has not identified the operators of the drones. C4ISRNET described the aircraft as Mexican drug-cartel drones, while the task force’s public statement referred to cartel use of unmanned aircraft for smuggling and surveillance.

The location question carries diplomatic significance. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that unilateral U.S. action on Mexican soil would be a grave breach of Mexico’s sovereignty. The public descriptions of the operation did not specify where the laser engagements occurred.

AeroVironment said the task force used one of the company’s non-kinetic counter-drone systems associated with the Army’s AMP-HEL program, Breaking Defense reported. The company did not identify the particular system involved. The task force has not said whether the laser was mounted on a vehicle, and the official announcement did not name a manufacturer.

Breaking Defense reported that the operation involved an AeroVironment system delivered to the Army in December. The company also announced delivery around that time of a prototype 20-kilowatt-class LOCUST system. The available descriptions do not identify LOCUST as the laser used in the three engagements.

AeroVironment delivered its first two multipurpose high-energy lasers to the Army the previous summer, and the Army has previously deployed the company’s LOCUST system, according to C4ISRNET. That deployment was associated with a seven-hour airspace shutdown near Texas’ El Paso International Airport earlier this year.

The Joint Task Force-Southern Border was established in 2025. The task force has said it conducted tens of thousands of detection and monitoring patrols and thousands of observation flights since then. The Pentagon has also increased the military’s role in defending against drone threats along the southern border.

The border has become a venue for testing counter-drone technologies involving military and interagency organizations. Breaking Defense reported that the Army-led Joint Interagency Task Force 401 has worked with industry partners on systems intended to defeat adversary drones while limiting risks to nearby civilian populations.

The three drone engagements came after an earlier incident involving a laser-based counter-drone system. In February, congressional aides told Reuters that the military accidentally shot down a U.S. government drone. The military has not said whether that system was the same one used in the Rio Grande Valley.

U.S. security officials have raised concerns about Mexican cartel drone use near the border. The groups mostly employ modified commercial drones to drop drug packages or surveil trafficking routes. In areas of Mexico farther from the border, cartels have also used drones to drop explosives in deadly attacks. U.S. and Mexican authorities are working together to address the growth of drone activity in the border region.