2026-05-20T20:35:59.876Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：戴维斯·温基
发布时间：2026年5月20日，美国东部时间下午4:35
这张2010年的照片展示了亚利桑那州的持久地面监视系统飞艇。一架类似的军用监视飞艇于周一晚间在得克萨斯州拉雷多附近脱离系泊绳索，并坠毁在墨西哥境内。
技术军士凡妮莎·瓦伦丁/美国联合部队司令部/档案照片
内容摘要
- 一艘租借给美国海关与边境保护局（CBP）的美军监视飞艇在得克萨斯州拉雷多附近脱离系泊绳索。
- 这艘66英尺长的氦气飞艇飘越边境，坠毁在墨西哥一处偏远地区。
- 海关与边境保护局在该区域部署了多艘监视飞艇。部分飞艇搭载高倍摄像机，其余则配备可侦测走私者使用的无人机及其他飞行器的雷达系统。
CNN编辑已对AI生成的摘要进行审核。
周一晚间，一架由海关与边境保护局承包商操作、驻扎在得克萨斯州拉雷多附近的美军所属监视飞艇脱离系泊绳索，最终坠毁在墨西哥境内。
该飞艇在飞行时无机组人员搭载，此次事件未造成地面人员受伤。
南部边境联合特遣部队的一名发言人在向CNN发表的声明中证实，周一的风暴导致固定飞艇至地面的系泊缆绳与其他线缆缠结在一起。
根据美国国家气象局的数据，当日晚间，附近机场遭遇强雷暴，阵风时速高达44英里。
该发言人表示，飞艇操作人员曾尝试解开缠结的线缆，但这艘充氦飞艇最终“脱离系泊”并飘走。美军拒绝透露失事飞艇的具体型号，仅将其描述为“中型浮空器”。
海关与边境保护局在该区域部署了多艘监视飞艇。部分飞艇搭载高倍摄像机，其余则配备可侦测走私者使用的无人机及其他飞行器的雷达系统。
这名发言人透露，这 runaway 飞艇的位置此前不明，直至墨西哥军方在“拉雷多西南部一处偏远地点”发现残骸。墨西哥与美国军方正协调回收该浮空器。
海关与边境保护局的一名发言人未回复置评请求。
边境巡逻队自2012年起开始使用小型“战术”飞艇执行监视任务，但该项目曾多次出现资金短缺。根据美国政府问责办公室2012年发布的一份报告，这些飞艇中有许多隶属于国防部，美国在伊拉克和阿富汗战争期间斥资逾50亿美元研发并采购了140多艘监视飞艇。
2025年3月，海关与边境保护局曾损失一艘更大的监视飞艇：当时一艘位于得克萨斯州南帕德里岛的200英尺浮空器脱离系泊绳索，飘移近600英里后撞向达拉斯附近的输电线缆。
负责监管边境巡逻队的海关与边境保护局，在唐纳德·特朗普总统巩固美墨边境、限制非法移民的行动中发挥着关键作用。
特朗普政府强化边境管控的举措为海关与边境保护局带来了大量军事人员和装备，有时也会引发意外后果。
今年2月，海关与边境保护局使用五角大楼提供的高能反无人机激光系统击落飞艇，导致美国联邦航空管理局突然关闭了得克萨斯州埃尔帕索上空的民用空域。
戴维斯·温基在CNN的报道由Outrider基金会与新闻资助合作伙伴（JFP）联合支持。CNN对此次报道保留完全编辑控制权。
US military surveillance blimp on loan to CBP is lost at the southern border, wreckage found in Mexico
2026-05-20T20:35:59.876Z / CNN
By Davis Winkie
PUBLISHED May 20, 2026, 4:35 PM ET
This 2010 image shows a Persistent Ground Surveillance System blimp in Arizona. A similar military-owned surveillance blimp broke free from its tether on Monday evening near Laredo, Texas, and crashed in Mexico.
Tech. Sgt. Vanessa Valentine/U.S. Joint Forces Command/File
Summary
- A US military surveillance blimp, on loan to CBP, broke free from its tether near Laredo, Texas.
- The 66-foot helium-filled aircraft floated across the border and crashed in a remote area of Mexico.
- CBP operates surveillance blimps across the region. Some are equipped with high-powered cameras, and others carry radar systems that detect drones and other aircraft operated by smugglers.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
A US military-owned surveillance blimp operated by Customs and Border Protection contractors near Laredo, Texas, broke free from its tether on Monday evening and later crashed in Mexico.
The blimp did not carry a crew when in the air, and no ground personnel were injured in the incident.
The 66-foot surveillance blimp’s tether cable, which secures the balloon to the ground, became tangled with other cables amid storms on Monday, a spokesperson for Joint Task Force-Southern Border, confirmed in a statement to CNN.
That evening, a nearby airport experienced heavy thunderstorms that brought wind gusts as high as 44 miles per hour, according to National Weather Service data.
The aircraft’s operators tried to untangle the cables, the spokesperson said, but the helium-filled blimp “became untethered” and floated away. The military declined to say which specific model of balloon was lost, only describing the aircraft as a “medium aerostat.”
CBP operates surveillance blimps across the region. Some are equipped with high-powered cameras, and others carry radar systems that detect drones and other aircraft operated by smugglers.
The runaway balloon’s location was unknown until Mexico’s military discovered it “in a remote location … southwest of Laredo,” according to the spokesperson. Mexican and US troops are coordinating to recover the aerostat.
A CBP spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
Border Patrol began using small “tactical” blimps for surveillance in 2012, but the program has periodically run out of funding. Many of the aircraft belong to the Department of Defense, which spent more than $5 billion to develop and purchase more than 140 surveillance blimps during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, according to a Government Accountability Office report published in 2012.
CBP lost an even larger surveillance blimp in March 2025, when a 200-foot aerostat operating on South Padre Island, Texas, broke free from its tether and floated nearly 600 miles before careening into power lines near Dallas.
CPB, which oversees Border Patrol, plays a crucial role in President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure the US-Mexico border and restrict illegal immigration.
Trump’s emphasis on hardening the border has brought CBP a litany of military manpower and equipment as well, sometimes with unintended consequences.
In February, CBP’s use of a high-energy anti-drone laser system furnished by the Pentagon to shoot down balloons led the Federal Aviation Administration to suddenly shut down civilian airspace over El Paso, Texas.
_Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between_Outrider Foundation_and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting._
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