Why the FAA shut down El Paso’s airspace over a Pentagon laser weapon

Why the FAA shut down El Paso’s airspace over a Pentagon laser weapon

• Pentagon deployed laser weapon near El Paso airport without FAA approval
• FAA shut El Paso airspace for 10 days due to unauthorized weapon use
• Pentagon deployment caused tension with aviation regulators

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Last spring, in the early months of Steve Feinberg’s tenure as US deputy defence secretary, Pentagon staff briefed him on plans to deploy new high-energy laser weapons to destroy drones being used by Mexican cartels to move drugs across the southern US border.

Their use, however, depended on approval from aviation safety regulators.

Pentagon officials explained that federal law requires close coordination with the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department before such systems can be tested or deployed. That process could slow things down. In some cases, transportation officials could even block the weapon’s use if they concluded it posed a threat to civilian aviation, the New York Times reported.

Two people familiar with the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss sensitive matters, said Feinberg appeared to believe the Pentagon had authority to move forward regardless. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, rejected that characterization, calling it “a total fabrication.”

The briefing came at a particularly delicate moment for both aviation regulators and the military. Just months earlier, an Army helicopter had collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington, killing 67 people and placing military safety procedures under intense scrutiny.

Now, questions about whether the Pentagon and the US Department of Homeland Security followed proper legal and regulatory steps in deploying the laser system have become a point of friction within the Trump administration. Working alongside military personnel, agents from Customs and Border Protection, part of the Homeland Security Department, used the weapon this week near El Paso International Airport. The move angered officials at the FAA and led to a temporary shutdown of the airport and surrounding airspace.

Late Tuesday night, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, reportedly caught off guard by the weapon’s use without authorisation and concerned about public safety, concluded he had little choice but to close the airspace for 10 days, according to more than a half-dozen people familiar with the matter. The decision was highly unusual and left travellers and local officials stunned.