US must fix issues with anti-drone laser system, key Democratic senator says

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Reuters) – The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said on Thursday that recent incidents involving the government’s use of a laser-based anti-drone system in Texas ​put the flying public at risk, and government agencies must ‌address serious issues.

“These incidents highlighted serious process failures that expose the flying public to unacceptable safety risks,” Senator Maria Cantwell wrote to the Pentagon, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies in a letter seen by Reuters.

“It is unacceptable that ‌this ​system was deployed without adequate coordination with FAA, ⁠which likely violated the law,” ⁠she added.

The U.S. military errantly shot down a government drone with a laser-based anti-drone system on February 25, leading the FAA to expand an area where flights are barred around Fort Hancock, Texas. The incident ​followed a February 18 decision by the FAA to halt all flights for 10 days at the nearby El Paso airport, an order ⁠it lifted after about eight hours.

Cantwell noted ⁠the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles ​Olympics would face potential drone threats and said each U.S. government agency “with counter-drone ​responsibilities needs to be prepared now to act swiftly in ‌the face of any such threat without jeopardizing aviation safety.”

She also said she wanted a briefing from the agencies by March 25 on the steps they would take to ensure coordination, and outline how counter-drone efforts would ⁠be implemented at state and local levels.

“We need leadership at your respective agencies to allocate appropriate resources and attention to fix these coordination problems without delay – ⁠before a preventable tragedy ‌occurs,” she said.

The Pentagon and FAA did not immediately ⁠comment on the letter but said last week that ​they planned ‌to test high-energy lasers designed to counter drones, ​aiming to address ⁠the FAA’s safety concerns.

U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Steve Bradbury said better coordination was needed. He told Reuters last week that testing was necessary so the FAA could “get comfortable with what (the laser system’s) limitations are, how it can be adjusted, how it can be controlled.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sharon Singleton ​and Pooja Desai)