By Laura Gottesdiener MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The chaotic closure of the El Paso airport overnight Tuesday, which U.S. authorities initially blamed on an incursion by a Mexican cartel drone,

A U.S. official says the military shot down a party balloon near El Paso, Texas, after initially suspecting it was a foreign drone, prompting a temporary airspace closure.

The sudden closure of airspace around El Paso, Texas, by the Federal Aviation Administration stemmed from the Pentagon’s plan to test a laser for shooting down Mexican cartel drones.

Feds apparently shot down a balloon - not a drone - near the border. But concern over cartel drones persists.

The U.S. Army's Global Response Force will begin assessing the Bumblebee V2 drone interceptor in March following a $5.2 million contract inked in January.

Claudia Sheinbaum denied U.S. allegations that Mexican drones entered American airspace near El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday.

The technology would only be used to translate voice commands from battlefield commanders to digital instructions for the drones, according to sources.

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has published a solicitation for a containerized drone launcher

The recent airspace closure around El Paso, Texas, was caused by the U.S. Military shooting down a party balloon amid a behind-the-scenes spat with air safety officials, multiple reports say. That contradicts the explanation provided on Tuesday by administration officials,