The Army has a laser weapon working near the Rio Grande Valley. It burns drones out of the sky.

That is not a rumor. The military said it.

U.S. Northern Command put out an update on Sept. 4. A photo came with it. The caption names two soldiers. They are Spc. Caleb Mullens and Spc. Peterie Gage. The caption says they ran the laser "near Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Sept. 1, 2026."

Both soldiers are with the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. They work for Joint Task Force Southern Border.

The weapon has a long name. It is the Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser. The Army calls it AMP-HEL.

What the laser has done

Northern Command says the laser first fired at the border on Aug. 24.

On Aug. 27, the command said troops shot down three drones. That happened on Aug. 25 and Aug. 26. It was the first time the Army used this laser on cartel drones at the border.

By Sept. 4, the count was 11 drones. All 11 fell to the laser.

The task force uses other tools too. Northern Command says troops have downed more than 300 drones in 2026. More than 100 of those came in August alone.

About 8,000 troops work the border for the task force. They cover about 1,954 miles. They have been there since March 2025.

Why the Army says it is here

Northern Command says cartels use drones to spy and to smuggle.

Its Aug. 27 release put it plainly. It said cartel groups use drones "to facilitate illicit human-smuggling and actively spy on our personnel and law enforcement partners."

Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor runs the task force. He said the shootdowns show "our readiness and technological edge."

He also said this: "we will not tolerate hostile surveillance."

Gen. Gregory Guillot leads Northern Command. He said the troops on the line "have the right authorities."

What the thing actually is

This is not a ray gun from a movie. It is a beam of light.

The beam locks on one drone. It heats the drone until it fails and falls.

AeroVironment builds it. The company says it is a 20 kilowatt class laser called LOCUST. It rides on a small Army truck. The truck is called an Infantry Squad Vehicle.

The company handed the Army its first two on Aug. 31, 2025.

The Army says the laser runs on electric power. It says the laser does not run out of shots the way a gun runs out of bullets. The truck makes the power.

That is the selling point. One War Department official said it beats firing a $2 million missile at a cheap drone.

What it cannot do

A laser is light. Light travels in a straight line. It has to reach the target.

The Army has not published how far the beam works. It has not published how rain, dust or fog change it. El Tejano could not find those numbers in any release.

The money

The Army is buying more of these.

On Sept. 2, the Army picked AeroVironment for a much bigger deal. The company says it is worth $464.8 million. The Army calls the program Enduring High Energy Laser.

The Army says it is the first production contract for a laser weapon in U.S. history.

Gen. Christopher LaNeve is the Army vice chief of staff. He said the program "will enable our formations to defeat unmanned systems."

There is more money in play. The War Department says a second laser program started in July 2026. It began at $86 million. Its ceiling is $847 million.

A smaller task force spent more than $20 million on drone defense gear in four months. It put 13 sensors and seven counter-drone systems on the border.

The safety question

A laser is being aimed into the sky over Texas. Planes fly up there. So do crop drones, news drones and kids' drones.

The FAA looked at the weapon. On April 10, the FAA and the War Department said the safety review was done.

They said the system does not pose "undue risk to passenger aircraft."

Bryan Bedford runs the FAA. He said the safety of the flying public is the agency's top job.

Brig. Gen. Matt Ross helped lead the drone task force. He said the tools "are safe, effective, and ready to protect all air travelers from illicit drone use."

That release says nothing about hobby drones. It says nothing about news drones or farm drones. Those words are not in it.

What went wrong earlier this year

There is a record on this, and it is rough.

On Feb. 11, the FAA shut down El Paso International Airport. The notice cited "special security concerns." It called for a 10 day closure.

Every flight stopped. Airlines, cargo planes and small planes.

Nobody told Congress first. Nobody told city leaders. Nobody told the airport.

The shutdown was lifted in hours. That came after members of Congress started asking questions.

Two weeks later it got worse. It happened near Fort Hancock, Texas.

CBP flew one of its own drones. It did not tell the military. The military's laser shot the CBP drone down.

Sen. Maria Cantwell wrote to the agencies after that. She said the process "is clearly broken."

On March 4, leaders from the War Department, Homeland Security and the FAA briefed Congress behind closed doors. They admitted there was no clear plan to keep the agencies talking to each other.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez pushed for answers. "That is unacceptable," he said. He said he would keep fighting for them.

On June 4, he got two changes into the defense bill for next budget year. One makes the War Department explain the mix-ups. The other makes it report on how safe laser drone defense really is.

What officials have not answered

Northern Command has not said whose sky the drones were in. It has not said if they were over Texas or over Mexico.

Its releases do not say how a drone gets judged hostile. The Aug. 27 release says the three drones were hostile because of how they were being used. It says they backed activity that put troops and CBP officers in danger. It does not say who makes that call.

The Sept. 4 release says the drones were "assessed to be associated with illicit activity." It says nothing more.

Northern Command has not said what happens if a Valley farmer flies a drone over his own field. It has not said what happens to a news drone. It has not said what happens to a child's drone at a park.

Those answers are not in any release El Tejano could find.

The photo caption does set one limit. It says Northern Command works with Homeland Security and CBP "within narrowly defined authorities."

It does not spell out what those authorities are.