U.S. Military Defeats 100+ Drones in August
PHOTO CAPTION: The Army Multipurpose High-Energy Laser, or AMP-HEL, is shown during Joint Task Force-Southern Border operations in Texas. USNORTHCOM said Sept. 4 that the system had defeated 11 cartel-linked drones. (Department of War photo by LCDR Teresa Meadows)
The U.S. military defeated more than 100 unauthorized drones along the southern border in August alone, including 11 cartel-linked aircraft taken down with an Army high-energy laser, according to a new U.S. Northern Command operational update released Friday.
Joint Task Force-Southern Border said it has defeated more than 300 unmanned aircraft systems this calendar year using a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic counter-drone systems. More than one-third of those defeats occurred during August.
The Army Multipurpose High-Energy Laser, known as AMP-HEL, entered border operations on Aug. 24. By Sept. 4, troops had used the directed-energy system to defeat 11 drones that USNORTHCOM described as cartel-linked.
Military officials said the drones were assessed to be associated with illicit activity along the U.S.-Mexico border. Transnational criminal organizations use unmanned aircraft to support smuggling operations and to conduct surveillance of military and law-enforcement personnel, according to the command.
The latest numbers significantly expand the picture of how frequently U.S. forces are encountering drones during the border mission.
USNORTHCOM previously disclosed that Joint Task Force-Southern Border troops used AMP-HEL during the late-night hours of Aug. 25 and 26 to destroy three hostile drones. Officials determined those aircraft were directly supporting activity that posed a physical threat to U.S. military personnel and Customs and Border Protection partners.
That operation marked the first use of AMP-HEL against cartel-linked drones along the southern border. Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of Joint Task Force-Southern Border, said cartel networks are increasingly using drones for human smuggling and surveillance of U.S. personnel.
The Army acquired AMP-HEL in September 2025 as part of its effort to field scalable directed-energy weapons against drones and other aerial threats. Joint Task Force-Southern Border incorporated the mobile laser into its layered defenses in August.
The laser is only one part of that defense network. USNORTHCOM said the more than 300 drone defeats this year involved both kinetic and non-kinetic systems, meaning the 11 AMP-HEL engagements should not be confused with the total number of aircraft brought down.
More than 8,000 service members are currently deployed under Joint Task Force-Southern Border across approximately 1,954 miles of terrain. Since taking over the mission in March 2025, troops have conducted tens of thousands of detection and monitoring patrols, thousands of observation flights and reinforced hundreds of miles of the border with wire obstacles.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of NORAD and USNORTHCOM, said the military's layered approach is giving frontline troops additional tools to counter threats connected to illegal activity along the border.
Friday's disclosure provides one of the clearest indications yet of the scale of the drone problem facing U.S. forces there: more than 300 aircraft defeated this year, more than 100 in August and 11 cartel-linked drones destroyed by an Army laser in less than two weeks of operations.
Sources: U.S. Northern Command, Joint Task Force-Southern Border
(Source: OAF Nation)
