UFO: What we know about the objects shot down in North America
A high-altitude object was shot down near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, marking the fourth time in just over a week the US military has brought down objects in North American airspace.
On Saturday, an unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada, a day after another was shot down by a US F-22 over Alaska. Last weekend, a Chinese surveillance balloon was downed by an F-22 off the coast of South Carolina.
At this time, there is no indication that the unidentified objects have any connection to the Chinese surveillance balloon, but it appears that national security officials across the continent still on alert.
Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan on Sunday said the operation to bring down the object near Lake Huron was carried out by pilots from the US Air Force and the National Guard.
CNN initially reported that the object was shot down over Lake Huron based on what sources told CNN and a public tweet by Republican Representative Jack Bergman of Michigan.
The object was first spotted by North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command over Montana on Saturday night, and fighter jets were sent in to investigate. senior administration officials told CNN. At the time, those planes failed to identify any objects that were associated with the radar hits, which led Norad and NORTHCOM to believe it was an anomaly.
But on Sunday, defense officials requested re-contact with radar and object detection that flew over Wisconsin and then Michigan. The official said the object’s path and altitude raised concerns that it could pose a threat to civilian aircraft, but it did not pose a military threat to anyone. On the ground. President Joe Biden ordered the object to be shot down.
Here’s what we know so far:
DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS
Before knocking down the object near Lake Huron, a US official said Sunday the Biden administration was cautious about pilot descriptions of unidentified objects shot down in Alaska and Canada due to circumstances. that objects are seen.
“These objects are not close to and much smaller than China’s hot air balloons, and we won’t be able to clearly characterize them until we can recover the debris we’re studying.” research,” a National Security Council spokesman said, referring to the suspected Chinese spy balloon. .
Earlier on Sunday, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh also noted differences between the cases.
“The objects that were shot down on Friday and Saturday are objects and do not look like the People’s Republic of China balloon. When we are able to recover the debris, we will have more things for the people. friends,” she said on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC News on Sunday morning that he had been notified by White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and that the object shot down in Canada was likely another balloon. — as well as the high-altitude object that was shot down in Alaska on Friday.
On Saturday, Canada’s chief of staff for defense, General Wayne Eyre, also mentioned a “balloon” when describing instructions given to the team working to take down the object.
‘Axis Object’
According to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. General Patrick Ryder.
Norad spotted the object and two F-22 fighter jets from Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, Alaska, were sent to track the object with the help of the Alaska National Air Defense Force.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said at a news conference on Saturday that the object appeared to be a “cylindrical object” smaller than the Chinese surveillance ball that was shot down earlier.
“Surveillance continued today as the object entered Canadian airspace, with Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joining the formation to further assess the object,” Ryder’s statement said. .
Eyre said Saturday that “the instructions given to the team were that whoever had the best shot first to land the balloon had to go first.”
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both approved Saturday’s shooting down, according to a statement from the White House.
“President Biden authorized the US warplane assigned to Norad to conduct the operation and an American F-22 shot down this object over Canadian territory in close coordination with the Canadian authorities. “, the White House statement said. “Leaders discussed the importance of object recovery to determine more details about its purpose or origin.”
The object was shot down with an AIM-9X missile from a US F-22 – the same missile and aircraft that shot down an unidentified object on Friday and the Chinese surveillance balloon. National on February 4th.
“The object was flying at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet, illegally entered Canadian airspace and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. This object was shot down a short distance from the border. The Canada-U.S. border is about 100 miles across Canadian territory in the central Yukon,” she said.
Ryder’s statement said that while Canadian authorities conduct recovery operations, the FBI will “work closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
THIS FOURTH BATTLE FOR U.S.A.A. PLANTS IN ONLY ONE WEEK
Sunday’s takedown of an unidentified object near Lake Huron marks the fourth such incident in just over a week.
On Friday, an unidentified object was shot down by a US F-22 over Alaska after it was tracked by the US since Thursday night.
Pilots gave different accounts of what they observed after getting close to the object, an intelligence source told CNN; some pilots said it “interfered with their sensors”, but other pilots said they did not experience it.
The object was flying at 40,000 feet, making it a hazard to civilian traffic. That set it apart from China’s surveillance balloon, Ryder said at the time, which was traveling “much higher than commercial air traffic”.
Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska said on Friday, after the unidentified object was shot down in his state, that similar objects had been discovered in Alaska in recent weeks, Alaska Beacon reported.
“There are things that have been seen on the radar but not explained,” the Senate Armed Services Committee member told the publication.
A Chinese hot air balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday after passing over the United States. Biden administration officials said it poses little risk in terms of intelligence gathering and military.
However, it poses a risk to people and property on the ground if it is shot down, as officials say it is about 200 feet tall and weighs more than several thousand pounds.
The US military is still trying to recover debris from the hot air balloon on the ocean floor. Ryder said Friday that it has “identified a significant amount of debris to date that will help us understand more about this balloon and its monitoring capabilities.”
Notably, the US intelligence community’s method of tracking China’s fleet of surveillance balloons was only discovered in the last year, six people familiar with the matter told CNN.
The sources say the findings have allowed the United States to develop for the first time a consistent engineering method it has used to track balloons in near real time around the globe.
US Congressional Reactions
Earlier on Sunday, before the object was shot down near Lake Huron, lawmakers on Capitol Hill issued a series of responses to recent developments.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner told CNN the Biden administration appeared “somewhat delighted” in its handling of the subjects over the weekend after allowing the first detected balloon to fly across the country. .
“What I think this shows, which is perhaps more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we’re going to protect our airspace. we need investment,” the Ohio Republican added. “This shows some of the issues and gaps that we have. We need to fill those issues as soon as possible because we’re sure there’s a threat right now.”
Turner’s Democratic partner on the Intelligence panel, Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he has “real concerns about why the administration isn’t opening up.” with everything they know,” before adding, “I guess there’s not much information to share.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Congress needed to investigate why it took the US so long to uncover the Chinese government’s use of spy balloons.
“I think (Democrat Senator Jon Tester of Montana) is looking into why it took so long for us, our military, our intelligence to know about these balloons. That’s it. what I stand for. Congress should look at that. That’s the question we have to answer,” he said. “I think our military, our intelligence is doing very well, now and in the future. I feel very confident in what they are doing. But why, since the Trump administration, nobody knows about it. this?”
Also on Sunday, Representative Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he remains unconvinced by assertions from the intelligence community that he suspects the Chinese spy balloon is not seriously jeopardize the national security of the United States in flight across the country.
“They say they’ve mitigated it, but my assessment – and I can’t get into the details of the intelligence document – is that if it’s still in transit, passing through these three very sensitive nuclear sites, I think if you look at the flight model of the hot air balloon, it tells a story about what the Chinese did, when they flew this plane all over the United States,” the Texas Republican told CBS News.