New warfare technology has changed how authorities counter transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) along the 3,145-kilomoter border between Mexico and the United States, according to Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) data. Through August 2026, high-energy laser weapons have been decisive in downing some of the 400 unmanned aerial systems (UAS) disabled along the border, including 100 in August.
“Frontline troops have the right authorities and are leveraging a highly capable network to thwart threats to the forces conducting the territorial integrity mission,” Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said in a September 2026 statement.
The game-changing element on the border is the multipurpose high-energy laser system, or AMP-HEL, acquired by the U.S. Army in 2025. Deployed in August, the system improves the Army’s ability to repel drones along the border. Previously, troops on the border used counter-UAS (c-UAS) systems designed to interfere with drones’ communication systems. AMP-HEL systems use high-energy lasers to completely disable TCO drones.
AMP-HELs were deployed on August 24 within the Joint Task Force-Southern Border’s (JTF-SB) area of responsibility. Within 10 days, 11 cartel-linked UAS had been defeated, according to a JTF-SB news release. “JTF-Southern Border’s combined arms approach and fusion with mission partners is delivering a new layer of homeland defense capability to counter illegal activity on the border,” Guillot said.
The Army acquired the AMP-HEL system in September 2025 to scale up its counter-TCO efforts on the southern border, which already had seen historic decreases in illegal migration and other contraband activities since that year. The JTF-SB incorporated AMP-HEL into its layered defense strategy this year to bolster border-security operations. “The system’s employment demonstrates JTF-SB’s ability to integrate emerging capabilities into ongoing operations and adapt to evolving threats,” the release stated.
Tens of thousands of Soldiers, Guardsmen, Marines, Airmen and other troops have been assigned to JTF-SB since its creation in March 2025. JTF-SB personnel have strung hundreds of miles of the border with wire obstacles, conducted tens of thousands of patrols, often in tandem with Mexican security forces deploying on the opposite site of the frontier in what are called mirrored operations. Planes and other aviation assets closely track border movements on both sides.
Border security is set to get ever tighter, thanks to a second-generation high-energy laser weapon. The Army awarded a $465 million production contract in September to AeroVironment, a U.S. company responsible for the AMP-HEL system. The E-Hel is the first directed energy system in the U.S. military’s history, according to Defense News, a U.S. military affairs news. E-Hel uses laser beams to shoot down drones and can reload using its own power supply, according to Defense News.
“This first-of-its-kind directed energy program will enable our formations to defeat unmanned systems and dominate from the outset,” Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve said in an Army statement, according to Defense News. “Pairing human ingenuity with advanced technology is what ensures our Army will continue to outpace America’s adversaries.”