FAA halts all flights to and from El Paso for ten days….
- Thread starter psuro
- Start date
What "big words" have I used that you do not understand? That way we can use this as a teachable moment for you and everyone else that have yet to have an educated response to my original post. All I received were elementary level replies lol. That just shows how out of touch everyone is.
Only speaking for myself. I don't care who you are.
Well, I could be someone that everyone on here could potentially get along with because I am not going to deliberately lie just to score points. That to me, is simply not pragmatic.
I guess my post went right over your head as it had nothing to do with you. Go back to cesspool board
Then can you enlighten me as to whom you are referring to? I would like to know.
He also went more than 3 sentences without talking about people defecating, farting or masturbating. Not to mention no use of fa-wart or e-ee-ee-eee-ee!
Yet, you and everyone else, still have not disagreed to my original post. That tells me that you know I am right and you're wrong.
It seems as though nobody on here has disagreed with my original post. You instead refer to ignore and/or reply with grade school type "comebacks". That tells me that you know I am correct and you do not have a legitimate argument.
AFTER PROLONGED CONFUSION, we may have some clarity on what caused the emergency restriction on the airspace around El Paso International Airport: Someone used a sophisticated anti-air laser against what they thought was a drone launched from Mexico, but turned out to be a party balloon. Understandably, the first suspects were the Army units at Fort Bliss, which abuts El Paso and the airport. But it wasn’t the Army that fired the weapon.
According to the New York Times, Customs and Border Protection personnel fired an experimental anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense at what they thought was a cartel drone—without sufficient coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. That prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace around the airport up to 18,000 feet in an extraordinary emergency move.
But focusing on the harmlessness of the target obscures the deeper issue: Why was this weapon employed without the discipline that governs every legitimate use of force in the military?
Fort Bliss sits on the edge of El Paso. While it’s a large post, and it has a very isolated desert training area, it borders a large city with hospitals, businesses, highways, civilian neighborhoods, and a relatively large international airport.
The post is home to the 1st Armored Division, an organization I once commanded. Like every major installation in the Army, Fort Bliss operates under detailed standing operating procedures governing weapons employment—whether on a live-fire range, during air-defense exercises, or in any activity that could affect surrounding airspace or population centers.
Those procedures are not bureaucratic red tape. They are necessary safety barriers. They exist precisely because military commanders understand various immutable facts: weapons are dangerous, coordination for any training event is critical, citizens live nearby, and mistakes do not stay contained.
It’s therefore unsurprising—though deeply concerning—that reports indicate the Fort Bliss commander and the command and staff of Northern Command were as alarmed as the FAA by the balloon shoot-down. That’s because they know any uncoordinated weapons use is not merely unsafe; it is unacceptable.
From the first moment a soldier is issued a rifle, they are taught a principle so basic it becomes instinct: Know what’s beyond your target.
On a rifle range, soldiers shoot in an area that is determined by something called a “range fan.” That fan accounts not just for the direct fire of a weapon, but also for potential dispersion, ricochet, associated terrain, and human error. No one fires if the fan has not been cleared of people, vehicles, and structures. That logic and approach doesn’t disappear when weapons become more sophisticated—and it certainly doesn’t become any less important beyond the shooting range. When large weapons are used, there are established surface danger zone or areas, which are larger spaces controlled much like range fans.
Artillery units establish airspace coordination measures before firing their rounds into the sky on a path toward a target. Air-defense units, trained to shoot down aircraft or missiles, operate under particularly strict weapons control procedures. It can be tempting for them to think that their weapons are relatively small, and the sky is very big—what some call the “big sky, little bullet” belief—so what could go wrong? They are quickly taught that such thinking is unacceptable, for good reason. Instead, they are taught to ask: What else could this hit? and Where could the debris land and what damage would it cause? There’s always a chance of hitting something you don’t mean to hit, and debris always lands somewhere.
When an object is destroyed in the air—by missile, gunfire, or directed energy—pieces fall. Sometimes they fall unpredictably. Even in combat, these risks are addressed for the potential of civilian harm or friendly fire. In peacetime training, over a remote training area, there’s even less reason not to be careful. Near a city, these risks cannot be ignored.
The debris from the party balloon—if there was any, once the laser got done with it—wasn’t as much of a hazard as burning chunks of metal from an aircraft. But the laser itself could have continued through the target almost to infinity, potentially even striking another aircraft, given the proximity to the major El Paso airport.
link: The El Paso Balloon Incident Could Have Been a Disaster
According to the New York Times, Customs and Border Protection personnel fired an experimental anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense at what they thought was a cartel drone—without sufficient coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. That prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace around the airport up to 18,000 feet in an extraordinary emergency move.
But focusing on the harmlessness of the target obscures the deeper issue: Why was this weapon employed without the discipline that governs every legitimate use of force in the military?
Fort Bliss sits on the edge of El Paso. While it’s a large post, and it has a very isolated desert training area, it borders a large city with hospitals, businesses, highways, civilian neighborhoods, and a relatively large international airport.
The post is home to the 1st Armored Division, an organization I once commanded. Like every major installation in the Army, Fort Bliss operates under detailed standing operating procedures governing weapons employment—whether on a live-fire range, during air-defense exercises, or in any activity that could affect surrounding airspace or population centers.
Those procedures are not bureaucratic red tape. They are necessary safety barriers. They exist precisely because military commanders understand various immutable facts: weapons are dangerous, coordination for any training event is critical, citizens live nearby, and mistakes do not stay contained.
It’s therefore unsurprising—though deeply concerning—that reports indicate the Fort Bliss commander and the command and staff of Northern Command were as alarmed as the FAA by the balloon shoot-down. That’s because they know any uncoordinated weapons use is not merely unsafe; it is unacceptable.
From the first moment a soldier is issued a rifle, they are taught a principle so basic it becomes instinct: Know what’s beyond your target.
On a rifle range, soldiers shoot in an area that is determined by something called a “range fan.” That fan accounts not just for the direct fire of a weapon, but also for potential dispersion, ricochet, associated terrain, and human error. No one fires if the fan has not been cleared of people, vehicles, and structures. That logic and approach doesn’t disappear when weapons become more sophisticated—and it certainly doesn’t become any less important beyond the shooting range. When large weapons are used, there are established surface danger zone or areas, which are larger spaces controlled much like range fans.
Artillery units establish airspace coordination measures before firing their rounds into the sky on a path toward a target. Air-defense units, trained to shoot down aircraft or missiles, operate under particularly strict weapons control procedures. It can be tempting for them to think that their weapons are relatively small, and the sky is very big—what some call the “big sky, little bullet” belief—so what could go wrong? They are quickly taught that such thinking is unacceptable, for good reason. Instead, they are taught to ask: What else could this hit? and Where could the debris land and what damage would it cause? There’s always a chance of hitting something you don’t mean to hit, and debris always lands somewhere.
When an object is destroyed in the air—by missile, gunfire, or directed energy—pieces fall. Sometimes they fall unpredictably. Even in combat, these risks are addressed for the potential of civilian harm or friendly fire. In peacetime training, over a remote training area, there’s even less reason not to be careful. Near a city, these risks cannot be ignored.
The debris from the party balloon—if there was any, once the laser got done with it—wasn’t as much of a hazard as burning chunks of metal from an aircraft. But the laser itself could have continued through the target almost to infinity, potentially even striking another aircraft, given the proximity to the major El Paso airport.
link: The El Paso Balloon Incident Could Have Been a Disaster
This was great.
And probably the longest post I will ever read.
Agreed but anyone (Communists) 90 miles offshore with Nukes or shares a border with us will always be a safe haven for aggressors.
Mexico has always been a problem since the Alamo and even the Rough Rider days to the present. Mexico has proven they can't control outlaws or even properly govern themselves. Mexico either allows American military bases in their Country, or we need to overthrow it putting in place a friendly government.
Canada has also been a problem taking all our economic goodwill and military protection then stiffing us and now allowing militant Islam to come and go freely while China's military has conducted winter training in Canada. In this modern world these things cannot be tolerated.
You can only do so much with economics and diplomacy. It seems regime change and restructuring in Canada is in the process of taking place that's a good thing. Western provinces are on the doorstep of becoming part of the US, and with their economies and conservative thinking they will be an economic and ideological boon to America the oil alone will bring billions to our economy.
This is no longer your grandfather's world these are the end times.
You mean the department of wwwwwaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr?
I did not, as there is no such thing
Thank you for this insight. A rapid thorough investigation by the DHS IG and the DOD must be accomplished. Then, whomever authorized and subsequently fired this weapon needs to be prosecuted if it is deemed a violation of the law and fired. Absolutely unacceptable conduct.
....and....another shut down.....
www.yahoo.com
US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say
The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a “seemingly threatening” drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers ...
....and....another shut down.....
US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say
The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a “seemingly threatening” drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers ...
Lol. A few Maple Magats in Alberta doesn’t constitute being on the “doorstep” of anything
FIFY BB
....and....another shut down.....
US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say
The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a “seemingly threatening” drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers ...
Lots of Lefty Magots in this country and in Canada for sure. Communism by any other name such as socialist, neocon, progressive, modern day new/current Democrat, is just a misnomer and still just a Commie. The day is coming soon when the whole world will be turned over to their brand of thinking and with absolute control too, let's see how it goes then.
