U.S. Customs and Border Protection used a powerful counter-drone laser—on loan from the Pentagon—to zap what they thought was a suspicious foreign drone over El Paso, Texas, earlier this week. Turns out, it was just a harmless mylar party balloon that met a fiery end. The mix-up sparked a brief but chaotic airspace closure over El Paso International Airport, with the FAA grounding flights for hours amid tensions between aviation officials and the military over the testing. No real threat—just one epic balloon bust.