Sep 1, 2026 · 7 min · 7 segments
In this week's episode of The Break Out, Army reporter Carly Welch explores the highlights from recent laser-powered counter-drone experiments by the US Army, particularly around the US-Mexico border…
Aaron MehtaHost
Carly WelchHost
Let's start with the southern border, where we're going to be talking about directed energy, or as we like to call them, lasers.
So late last week, the Joint Task Force Southern Border revealed that they shot down some drones crossing the border from Mexico.
They didn't release a lot of details on the drones, but said that they posed a threat to the personnel in the task force and they inferred that they came from the cartel.
Now, the system that was used is what's called a non-kinetic system, in this case, a laser system.
And this technology that's been out there, a lot of people are trying it, but you actually tracked down which system it was.
Yes, so the task force did reveal that it was the Army's Ampel system, which, again, is a laser system.
And from some of my reporting, I found out that it was AeroVironment, more commonly known as AV.
Now, the use of these type of systems, again, non-kinetic systems, is actually pretty controversial across the US.
There's questions even about if a civilian drone is shot down, who's responsible for paying the civilian back, right? Exactly.
We saw it play out really dramatically at the border with a laser system earlier this year.
Let's start with the southern border, where we're going to be talking about directed energy, or as we like to call them, lasers.
So late last week, the Joint Task Force Southern Border revealed that they shot down some drones crossing the border from Mexico.
They didn't release a lot of details on the drones, but said that they posed a threat to the personnel in the task force and they inferred that they came from the cartel.
Now, the system that was used is what's called a non-kinetic system, in this case, a laser system.
And this technology that's been out there, a lot of people are trying it, but you actually tracked down which system it was.
Yes, so the task force did reveal that it was the Army's Ampel system, which, again, is a laser system.
And from some of my reporting, I found out that it was AeroVironment, more commonly known as AV.
Now, the use of these type of systems, again, non-kinetic systems, is actually pretty controversial across the US.
There's questions even about if a civilian drone is shot down, who's responsible for paying the civilian back, right? Exactly.
We saw it play out really dramatically at the border with a laser system earlier this year.
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