A US military unmanned reconnaissance balloon crashed on Mexican territory after an incident in bad weather conditions near Laredo city, Texas. The incident occurred on the evening of May 18 (local time) but was revealed by CNN on May 20.
According to published information, the airship is about 22m long, owned by the US military, lent and operated by contractors of the US Customs and Border Protection Bureau (CBP).
A spokesman for the Southern Border Joint Task Force of the North American Command said that the incident stemmed from the fact that the airship anchor cable was caught in many other cables while the area was experiencing thunderstorms.
Data from the US National Weather Service shows that the area near the scene experienced a strong thunderstorm with gusts of about 70 km/h. The operating team tried to remove the cables, but the last balloon still slipped out of the anchor and lost control.
After disappearing, no one could determine the location of the balloon until the Mexican army discovered debris in the remote area southwest of Laredo city. Representatives of the Joint Task Force - Southern Border said that the two countries' armies are coordinating to recover equipment.
Officials confirmed that the incident did not cause casualties or property damage underground. The US military declined to disclose the related balloon model, only describing it as a "mid-size balloon". Meanwhile, CBP has not made an official comment on the incident.
CBP currently operates many reconnaissance balloons along the southern border of the United States to serve security surveillance missions. Some balloons are equipped with high-performance cameras, while other devices carry radar capable of detecting unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft are used by smuggling groups.
The US Border Patrol Force began deploying small tactical balloons in 2012 for surveillance missions. Many devices are owned by the US military and are part of a $5 billion program to develop and purchase more than 140 surveillance balloons during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is not the first time CBP has encountered problems with reconnaissance balloons. In March 2025, this agency lost a large balloon more than 60m long. That balloon slipped out of the anchor cable and drifted about 950km before hitting a power line near Dallas.
