--- title: "It Appears That the US Military Accidentally Killed Everybody on Board a Civilian Medevac Flight in New Mexico" description: "A days-long electronic warfare drill was one of the causes behind the loss of a four-passenger medevac flight." date: "2026-08-03" modified: "2026-08-03" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/science-energy/us-military-gps-jamming-signal-medical-flight" categories: - "Computing" - "Devices" - "Military" - "Robots and Machines" - "Science & Energy" --- # It Appears That the US Military Accidentally Killed Everybody on Board a Civilian Medevac Flight in New Mexico ![A color-treated photo of a twin-engine aircraft.]() *Meteb Ali / Wikimedia Commons / Futurism* When the Federal Aviation Administration [shut down air traffic]() to El Paso Airport earlier this year, nobody could have guessed than an experimental high-energy laser weapon was the cause. After days of chaos and speculation, it was revealed that Customs and Border Patrol officials had fired off a laser volley from a US Army base adjacent the El Paso Airport. Though the trigger-happy Border Patrol grunts evidently thought they were firing at drug-smuggling drones, their real target turned out to be a [kids' party balloon](). Regardless, it was later reported that the cutting-edge weapon was taken for a test-drive a week before FAA and Pentagon officials had a chance to discuss how to safely implement the laser device, making it a small miracle that nobody in the air was killed. Not every use of an experimental aerospace weapon goes off without a hitch, however. New bombshell reporting by [*Wired* reveals]() an incident in which the testing of an experimental GPS jammer resulted in a medical plane crashing into the side of a mountain. The horrifying incident happened in May, the publication reports, when a small twin-engine medevac aircraft carrying two pilots and two medical workers departed from Roswell, New Mexico. Heading West for the small mountain village of Ruidoso, the crew became the victim of an electronic warfare exercise being conducted at the nearby White Sands Missile Range, a test which rendered their navigational system inoperable. Due to a combination of low visibility and an air-traffic control that was stretched far beyond capacity — at least three other planes reported navigation disruptions due to the GPS jamming — the pilots failed to register a mountainous formation between their plane and the landing strip. As airline pilot and aviation crash analyst Juan Browne told *Wired*, the visual effect of that approach would have been stupefying. "When those lights go out, man, you know you are in big trouble," Browne explained. Unfortunately, the disoriented crew ran straight into the side of a mountain they likely never saw, resulting in the loss of every life on board. It's the first known instance where military GPS jamming played a role in downing a civilian plane in US airspace. Reported incidents of GPS jamming within the continental US have skyrocketed in recent years. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the number of [GPS interference events]() went from four in 2020 to 50 in 2024, and 40 across 2025. After the initial publication of this piece, a spokesperson for the US Army provided a statement in response. "The Army is aware of the release of the NTSB's preliminary report into the crash of a civilian medical evacuation flight on May 14 in the vicinity of Ruidoso, New Mexico," it read. "As the incident remains under investigation, we cannot comment at this time." Though the crew involved in the New Mexico crash was [warned]() that GPS interference may be present, there evidently weren't enough safeguards or air traffic control personnel in place to prevent a tragedy. *Updated with comment from the US Army.* **More on military tech:** *[The US Military Has Been Using Elon Musk’s Grok AI to Bomb Iran]()* ## 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]()