Runaway Border Patrol Surveillance Balloon Travels 600 Miles Across Texas Before Crashing

A large balloon used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for surveillance along the Texas border that broke free on March 3, and traveled about 600 miles to the north as high winds swept through the state that crashed is shown in Quinlan, Texas, on March 5, 2025. KDFW via AP

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) surveillance balloon broke free from its tether in South Padre Island, Texas, and traveled around 600 miles north before crashing in Hunt County, east of Dallas, after the area was struck by high winds earlier this week.

The CBP in Amarillo, Texas, said the balloon incident started on March 3, at around 3:15 p.m. CST, when the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) broke loose during what CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) called a “severe wind event” on South Padre Island.

Contact with the aerostat was lost shortly after it broke free, according to a statement posted on the social media platform X by CBP AMO.

The National Weather Service reported that wind gusts in the South Padre Island area ranged from 20 to 30 mph on Monday afternoon. The loose balloon then drifted northward across Texas, carried by strong winds associated with a powerful storm system moving through the region.

The runaway aerostat was finally located Tuesday by the Quinlan Fire and Rescue in Hunt County, Texas, approximately 30 miles east of Dallas. Clay Hinton, a local resident, told television station WFAA “All the neighbors were over there. Nobody knew what it was.” Hinton added, “I was like, oh, OK it’s not just a tarp or anything. That’s something!”

The National Weather Service said a storm system moving through the Dallas area early Tuesday brought wind gusts exceeding 75 mph.

TARS is a critical component to the CBP’s border surveillance efforts. According to a CBP fact sheet, TARS is designed to detect low altitude aircraft from far away distances, and is particularly effective in tracking suspicious air traffic along the southwest border. The system consists of a helium-filled balloon with two chambers: an upper chamber for lift and a lower pressurized air compartment.

Despite representing less than 2 percent of the total integrated radars used by the Air and Marine Operations Surveillance System, the eight TARS sites operated by AMO along the southern border from Arizona to Puerto Rico spot nearly half of all suspect targets detected by radar each year, with data from fiscal years 2014 through 2020 showing the system detected 68 percent of all suspected air smuggling flights near the southwest border from Mexico, according to the CBP.

CBP has stated that it will work alongside federal, state, and local officials to determine the cause and prevent similar occurrences in the future.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service continues to issue warnings for various severe weather conditions across Texas and neighboring states. Elevated fire weather conditions are expected in southern Texas, with the potential for rapid fires due to gusty winds and dry air. A Fire Danger Statement has been issued for South-Central Texas, urging residents to be careful with outdoor activities that could inadvertently cause wildfires.

From NTD News