Unidentified flying objects continue to arrive in U. S.
2023.02.13 04:27
Unidentified flying objects continue to arrive in U. S.
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – The Pentagon reported that U.S. military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron on Sunday. This was the most recent incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon alerted North American security forces.
In just over a week, it was the fourth aircraft to be shot down over North America by a US missile.
General Glen VanHerck of the United States Air Force, who is in charge of protecting American airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to determine what the three most recent objects are, how they stay in the air, or where they are coming from.
VanHerck, who is in charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, stated, “We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason.”
VanHerck stated that he would not rule out any other explanation or aliens.
He stated, “I’ll let the intelligence and counterintelligence communities figure that out.”
The military had not seen any evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial, according to a subsequent statement made by an anonymous defense official.
A U.S. F-16 fighter jet shot down the object at 2:42 p.m. local time over Lake Huron on the border between the United States and Canada, according to an official statement from the Pentagon’s spokesperson, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder.
According to Ryder, the object could have interfered with domestic air traffic at 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) and may have had surveillance capabilities, even though it did not pose a military threat.
According to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the object’s structure appeared to be octagonal, with strings hanging off but no discernible payload.
According to the Pentagon, the object prompted the closure of U.S. airspace because it was thought to be the same as one that was recently found over Montana near sensitive military sites. According to VanHerck, the military will attempt to recover the object that was shot down over Lake Huron in order to learn more about it.
He stated that it probably entered Canadian waters.
The incident heightened tensions with China and prompted inquiries regarding the recent rash of unusual objects that have been observed in the skies of North America.
One of several Michigan lawmakers who commended the military for shooting down the object said, “We need the facts about where they are originating from, what their purpose is, and why their frequency is increasing.”
On February 4, U.S. authorities shot down the first object, a Chinese surveillance balloon, off the coast of South Carolina. A second object was shot down over sea ice close to Deadhorse, Alaska, on Friday. Additionally, on Saturday, a third object was destroyed over Canada’s Yukon, and investigators are still looking for the debris.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Sunday, “The security of citizens is our top priority, and that’s why I made the decision to have that unidentified object shot down.”
Since the white, striking Chinese airship flew over the Americas earlier this month, North America has been on the lookout for aerial threats.
That 60-meter-tall, 200-foot-tall balloon, which Beijing has been accused of using to spy on the United States, sparked international outrage and forced Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to China just hours before he was scheduled to leave.
Since then, officials at the Pentagon said they have been paying closer attention to radar.
U.S. officials appear to be on high alert due to concerns about surveillance.
Officials in the United States shut down airspace twice within a day, only to quickly reopen it.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed the airspace above Lake Michigan on Sunday. In response to a radar anomaly in Montana, the U.S. military activated fighter jets on Saturday.
China claims that the first balloon was a civilian research vessel and denies that it was being used for surveillance. It criticized the United States for shooting it down last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.
According to American broadcaster ABC, U.S. officials believe that two of the most recent objects are smaller balloons than the initial one.
Echoing Schumer’s description of the recently downed objects as “much smaller,” the White House stated only that they “did not closely resemble” the Chinese balloon.
A spokesperson stated, “We will not definitively characterize them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on.”
There may be difficulties for Canadian counterparts trying to piece together what was shot down over the Yukon. The territory borders Alaska and is a sparsely populated area in Canada’s far northwest. Winter can be brutally cold, but it’s unusually mild for this time of year, which could make it easier to recover.
Mike Turner, a member of the House Armed Services Committee who is a Republican, suggested that the White House might be overcompensating for what he described as its earlier lax monitoring of American airspace. Turner is a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Turner said on Sunday, “They do appear somewhat trigger-happy.” Their permissiveness is preferable to my trigger-happy disposition.
Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the Chinese spy balloon’s incursion, arguing that it ought to have been shot down much earlier.
