--- title: "You Are Not Prepared for What Actually Shut Down the El Paso Airport This Morning, But Let’s Just Say It Involves a Military Mega-Laser Shooting Something Down" description: "Did the FAA announce an unprecedented 10-day shutdown of an international airport because of the Pentagon's experimental laser weapon?" date: "2026-02-11" modified: "2026-02-11" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/science-energy/airport-laser-pentagon-trump" categories: - "Military" - "Science & Energy" --- # You Are Not Prepared for What Actually Shut Down the El Paso Airport This Morning, But Let’s Just Say It Involves a Military Mega-Laser Shooting Something Down ![Illustration showing an airplane flying through a dark sky illuminated by multiple bright green laser beams. The lasers create a glowing effect around the aircraft, highlighting its wings and fuselage.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* When the Federal Aviation Administration announced it was shutting down El Paso Airport this morning, social media lit up with speculation. Had freedom-hating terrorists planted anti-aircraft weapons in the desert? Was the government covering up an early-stage zombie apocalypse with El Paso as ground zero? Or had the Trump administration perhaps started firing high-energy laser weapons into the sky without bothering to tell anyone? The answer, impossibly, seems to be door number three. According [to *CBS News*](), the bizarre airspace closure came under orders from FAA administrator Bryan Bedford. Apparently, Bedford made the call after learning that the Pentagon planned to unleash high-energy, counter-drone laser weapons at Fort Bliss, situated right next to El Paso International Airport. But wait, there's more. Separately, [*Fox News* reported]() that military personnel had shot down a rogue party balloon — like you'd see at a child's birthday party — near El Paso, after misidentifying it as a foreign drone. Whether this was done using the Pentagon's mega-laser is unclear at the moment, but it'd be a wild coincidence if this wasn't the case. The airspace closure occurred without alerting White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security officials, sources told *CBS*. Originally, the closure was said to last 10 days, citing "special security reasons." The FAA's [original notice]() warned that the "government may use deadly force" against planes if officials decided "the aircraft poses an imminent security threat." In Bedford's defense, [*CNN* reports]() the military laser weapon deployment came nine days before a February 20th meeting to review the system's potential impacts on commercial aviation. Again, it isn't clear if the Pentagon went ahead and deployed the laser system before officials could meet. That said, *CNN*'s sources said the Defense Department *was* seeking to use the system in El Paso before such a sit-down could take place. Further muddying the waters are the [Trump administration's claims]() that the Pentagon had taken action to disable a vague "cartel drone incursion" right before the airspace shutdown. (We have yet to see any evidence that that's the case.) So to recap: the FAA and the Pentagon appear to be in such poor communication that experimental weaponry by the latter is shutting down civilian flights by the former — and party balloons are caught in the crossfire. Welcome to 2026. **More on Trump:** *[There’s Not Enough Money in the World for Trump’s Golden Dome]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()