Fort Hancock, Texas - The Federal Aviation Administration was forced to bar flights near Fort Hancock on Thursday after the US military used a laser-based anti-drone system to accidentally shoot down a government drone.

Congressional aides told Reuters that the incident was triggered when the Pentagon used a high-powered laser system to shoot down a drone that was being operated by Customs and Border Protection near the Mexican border.

In a statement issued by the Pentagon, the FAA, and CBP, it was confirmed that the US military had used a "counter-unmanned aircraft system... to mitigate a seemingly threatening unmanned aerial system."

While the Pentagon confirmed that the incident took place a long way from populated areas and with no commercial aircraft in the vicinity, it admitted that they must "work on increased cooperation and communication to prevent such incidents in the future."

The incident comes only a few weeks after the FAA briefly declared the airspace around El Paso closed after the DHS used what seems to be the same kind of anti-drone laser to shoot down a party balloon that had drifted over the border.

Rick Larsen, André Carson, and Bennie Thompson, the three ranking Democrats on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, reacted to the incident on X.

"Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a high-risk counter-unmanned aircraft system," the lawmakers wrote.

"We said MONTHS ago that the White House's decision to sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train C-UAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS, and the FAA was a short-sighted idea."