This is Joint Task Force–Southern Border, the U.S. military unit backing Customs and Border Protection. What you're seeing is the Army's Multipurpose High Energy Laser, AMP-HEL, mounted on a vehicle in the Rio Grande Valley — tracking and burning down small drones instead of firing a missile at each one. Task force commander Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor says cartels fly these drones to scout human smuggling and watch U.S. troops and Border Patrol — 95 to 98 percent of the drone traffic they see. From August 22 to September 22, his unit detected at least 378 drones, turned 75 back, engaged 15, and captured one. The laser first fired on the border the night of August 25, and by early September it had already taken down 11 cartel-linked drones — with two more knocked down September 24. About 8,000 service members are on this mission. The laser is one layer: they also jam drones and force them home. Taylor says they haven't seen a lethal drone on the southern border yet — but the scouting flights haven't stopped.