2026年2月12日 上午11:08 UTC / 路透社
这张概述图显示了美国德克萨斯州埃尔帕索的布利斯堡空军基地，美国联邦航空管理局于2026年2月11日解除了对埃尔帕索上空空域的临时关闭，称所有航班将恢复正常运营，且对商业航空没有威胁。路透社/何塞·路易斯·冈萨雷斯/资料图片 [获取授权，在新标签页打开]
- 摘要
- 美国官员担忧贩毒集团使用无人机投送毒品和进行监视
- 据报无人机入侵后，埃尔帕索空域关闭数小时
- 特朗普威胁单方面军事行动，美墨紧张局势升级
墨西哥蒙特雷，2026年2月12日（路透社） – 周二夜间埃尔帕索机场的混乱关闭事件（美国当局称系墨西哥贩毒集团无人机入侵所致），使犯罪组织日益增多地使用无人驾驶飞机这一问题受到高度关注，同时也凸显了两国在应对这一问题上日益紧张的关系。
过去一年中，美国安全官员越来越多地表达了对墨西哥贩毒集团使用无人机的担忧。这些贩毒集团大多使用经粗略改装的现成型号无人机，用于投送毒品包裹或监视走私路线。在墨西哥远离美国边境的部分地区，也发生过贩毒集团使用遥控飞机投放爆炸物发动致命袭击的案例。
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贩毒集团无人机使用激增
与此同时，无人机技术已显著改变全球战场上的传统战争形态，乌克兰局势是最显著的例子。
关于关闭事件的各方说法不一
负责联邦航空管理局的美国交通部长肖恩·达菲表示，墨西哥贩毒集团的无人机出现在美国空域，导致埃尔帕索空中交通管制被禁止，该禁令最初计划持续10天，后缩短至仅7小时。
但政府和航空公司官员在匿名情况下表示，与达菲的说法相矛盾，称联邦航空管理局关闭空域是担心美军附近正在测试的激光反无人机系统可能对空中交通构成风险。航空专家也表示，无人机在机场附近被发现通常只会导致交通短暂暂停，而非长时间关闭。
墨西哥总统克劳迪娅·谢因鲍姆的办公室未立即回应有关贩毒集团无人机引发的紧张局势的置评请求。谢因鲍姆周三上午表示，她的政府没有关于边境无人机活动的信息。
白宫新闻发言人安娜·凯利表示，针对无人机成为双边关系焦点的置评请求，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普“保留所有选项”。
“入侵，而非攻击”
安全专家万达·费尔巴布-布朗表示，墨西哥犯罪集团使用廉价商用无人机进行监视和运输违禁品已有十多年历史。
她说，这些技术虽然粗糙，但确实在墨西哥造成了人员伤亡。一些最大的犯罪集团，特别是新一代哈利斯科州贩毒集团，已对商用无人机进行改装，配备了简易炸弹或其他爆炸装置，用于袭击墨西哥安全部队和平民，特别是在墨西哥中部地区，包括米却肯州。
在边境地区，贩毒集团主要利用无人机空投毒品或监视美国边境特工，以便在走私行动中更好地躲避追捕。五角大楼表示，美国与墨西哥边境每月有超过1000起无人机入侵事件。专家称，从未发生过墨西哥贩毒集团无人机袭击美国领土或美国执法人员的事件。
“这是入侵，而非攻击，”前亚利桑那州国土安全调查局（HSI）特别探员斯科特·布朗表示，“两者有明显区别。”
美国和墨西哥当局正在合作打击边境地区无人机使用的增加；本周早些时候，新墨西哥州官员与邻国墨西哥奇瓦瓦州官员会面，讨论这些风险。
威胁还是借口？
此次空域关闭发生之际，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普多次表示，他希望对墨西哥贩毒集团采取军事行动，称这些集团“掌控着墨西哥”。
墨西哥总统克劳迪娅·谢因鲍姆表示，美国在墨西哥领土上采取任何单边行动都将严重侵犯该国主权，越过红线。“上次美国对墨西哥进行干预时，他们夺走了半个领土，”谢因鲍姆在11月提及1846-1848年美墨战争时说道。
特朗普政府越来越多地将贩毒集团无人机视为一种威胁。
“当我听到机场关闭的消息时，我担心的是，这是否是美国进行反击的借口？”布朗表示。
美国国土安全部反无人机项目主任史蒂文·威洛比在7月向国会作证时称，“美国民众或执法人员在边境地区遭到目标袭击只是时间问题。”
但墨西哥安全专家卡洛斯·佩雷斯·里卡特驳斥了这种说法。
“没有证据表明贩毒集团会用无人机袭击美国，这对他们来说毫无意义，”他表示。
“但这种说法确实符合特朗普创造军事行动理由的利益。”
报道：劳拉·戈特斯迪纳；编辑：斯蒂芬·艾森哈默和斯蒂芬·科茨
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Cartel drones become flashpoint between US and Mexico
February 12, 2026 11:08 AM UTC / Reuters
An overview shows Fort Bliss Air Base, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lifted its temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, saying all flights will resume as normal and that there was no threat to commercial aviation, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., February 11, 2026. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]
- U.S. officials concerned about cartel drones for drug drops, surveillance
- El Paso airspace closed for hours after alleged drone incursion
- U.S.-Mexico tensions high as Trump threatens unilateral military action
MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb 12 (Reuters) – The chaotic closure of the El Paso airport overnight Tuesday, which U.S. authorities blamed on an incursion by a Mexican cartel drone, brought into sharp focus the growing use of unmanned aircraft by crime groups and the crackling tensions between the countries over how to deal with it.
Over the past year U.S. security officials have increasingly expressed concern about the use of drones by Mexican cartels, which mostly employ crudely adapted versions of off-the-shelf models to drop drug packages or surveil trafficking routes. There have also been cases, in parts of Mexico further away from the U.S. border, of cartels using the remotely controlled aircraft to drop explosives in deadly attacks.
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The rising use of drones by Mexican cartels comes as the technology has significantly transformed traditional warfare on the world’s battlefields, most notably in Ukraine.
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS ON THE CLOSURE
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the Federal Aviation Administration, said the presence of a Mexican drug cartel’s drone in U.S. airspace had prompted the El Paso air traffic ban, which was initially slated for 10 days, but then shortened to only seven hours.
But government and airline officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, later contradicted Duffy’s assertion, saying that the FAA had closed the airspace due to concerns that a laser-based counter-drone system being tested by the U.S. Army nearby could pose risks to air traffic. Aviation experts also said that a drone sighting near an airport would typically lead to a brief pause on traffic, not an extended closure.
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The office of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not immediately respond to requests for comment on growing tensions over cartel drones. Sheinbaum said on Wednesday morning that her administration had no information about drone traffic along the border.
White House Press spokeswoman Ana Kelly said U.S. President Donald Trump has “left all options on the table,” in response to a request for comment on the drones being a flashpoint in bilateral relations.
“INCURSION, NOT ATTACK”
Mexican crime groups have been using cheap commercial drones for more than a decade to conduct surveillance and transport contraband, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, a security expert.
The technology is crude, she said, but it has still caused bloodshed in Mexico. Some of the largest crime groups, particularly the New Generation Jalisco Cartel, have outfitted commercially available drones with crude bombs or other explosive devices to attack Mexican security forces and civilians, particularly in central parts of Mexico, including in the state of Michoacan, she added.
Along the border, the cartels mostly use drones to airdrop drugs or to spy on U.S. border agents in order to better evade them during smuggling operations. The Pentagon has said there are more than 1,000 drone incursions along the U.S.-Mexico border each month. Experts say there’s never been a Mexican cartel drone attack on U.S. soil or against U.S. law enforcement.
“It’s an incursion, not an attack,” said Scott Brown, a former special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Arizona, where he was involved in law enforcement’s counter-drone efforts along the border. “There’s a marked difference.”
U.S. and Mexican authorities are working together to combat the rise of drones in the border region; earlier this week, officials from New Mexico and the neighboring Mexican state of Chihuahua met to discuss these risks.
THREAT OR PRETEXT?
The airspace closure comes amid repeated comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that he wants to use U.S. military force against the Mexican cartels, which he says “run Mexico.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said any unilateral U.S. action on Mexican soil would be a grave breach of her country’s sovereignty and cross a red line. “The last time the United States came to Mexico with an intervention, they took half the territory,” Sheinbaum said in November referring to the Mexican–American War from 1846 to 1848.
The Trump administration has been increasingly raising alarm about cartel drones as a threat.
“When I heard about the airport closure, my concern was, is this a pretext for a counter-strike by the U.S.?” Brown said.
Steven Willoughby, director of the counter-drone program at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, testified to Congress in July that it is “only a matter of time before Americans or law enforcement are targeted in the border region.”
But Carlos Perez Ricart, a Mexican security expert, disputed such a characterization.
“There’s no evidence that the cartels would attack the U.S. with drones, it doesn’t make sense for them,” he said.
“But such a narrative does serve Trump’s interests in creating a justification for military action.”
Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Stephen Coates
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