US shot down flying object over Lake Huron, fourth in last 10 days

The US shot down fourth flying object in a row in the last 10 days.

Washington, Feb 13: The United States on Sunday shot down yet another flying object and this time over Lake Huron on the US-Canadian border.

"Today at 2:42 p.m. ET, at the direction of President Biden, and based on the recommendations of Secretary Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan," a statement from the US Department of Defense said.

After downing a Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, this is the fourth such shooting down of an unidentified airborne object in a week. The previous others were shot down by US fighter jets in Alaska on February 10 and a "high-altitude airborne object" on February 11.

Unlike the first balloon, which the US claims that it was from China, the origin of the rest of the three has not been disclosed yet by the US and Canadian authorities.

US President Biden ordered the shooting down of the airborne object on Sunday at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

"Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation. The location chosen for this shoot down afforded us the opportunity to avoid impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery. There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected. North American Aerospace Defense Command detected the object Sunday morning and has maintained visual and radar tracking of it. Based on its flight path and data we can reasonably connect this object to the radar signal picked up over Montana, which flew in proximity to sensitive DOD sites. We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities. Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more," the Pentagon added.

US Calling Them Objects for a Reason

At a press conference, Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who safeguards US airspace as head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said, "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason." He said that Pentagon does not know what keeps these "objects" aloft, unknown propulsion systems.