By staff writer.
The US Air Force (USAF) has shot down another unidentified flying object, the fourth this month. The latest downing, involving a “gaseous type of balloon,” occurred over Lake Huron, Michigan, mid-afternoon (local time) on Sunday, February 12, 2023.
While questions remain about the nature, purpose, and ownership of the latest high-altitude object to violate US airspace, US President Joe Biden ordered its shooting down “out of an abundance of caution.”
The balloon was first detected in Canadian airspace late afternoon of Saturday, February 11, and entered US airspace shortly afterwards. It disappeared from US radars over Montana before reappearing above Wisconsin. On the president’s orders, the USAF scrambled F-16s to intercept it over Lake Huron, while the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) dispatched F-18s. Reportedly, an F-16 shot down the balloon with a sidewinder missile, with debris falling into Canadian waters. When destroyed, the balloon was flying at an altitude of 6,100 metres.
“The object was taken down in US airspace by US aircraft,” Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand, said in a statement. “We unequivocally support this action, and we’ll continue to work with the US and North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) to protect North America.”
While US authorities have a firm basis for believing the first object, shot down on February 4 off the US east coast, had its point of origin in China, the origins of the subsequent three objects remain unclear.
Following that first incident, the USAF downed a second object over Northern Alaska on February 10, with uncertainty remaining over its propulsion and control systems. The next day, February 11, a third “high-altitude airborne object” was shot down by the USAF above Canada’s Yukon territory.
NORAD and US Northern commander, General Glen VanHerck, told a media briefing that he remained open-minded about the origins and ownership of the latest unidentified object. “What we are seeing are very, very small objects that produce a very, very low radar cross-section,” he said. While referring to the February 4 object as “clearly a balloon,” he called the following three incidents encounters with “objects,” saying he was “unable to categorise how they stay aloft.”
After the first balloon downing and the publicity surrounding it, NORAD began monitoring North American airspace more closely, something VanHerck admits may be leading to the sudden increase in sightings of more unexplained objects in the sky.
Aside from the initial balloon, the White House has declined to speculate on the three subsequent objects. But on February 13, China’s Foreign Ministry said the US had sent balloons into its airspace multiple times in the last year.
“It’s not uncommon as well for the US to illegally enter the airspace of other countries,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing in Beijing. “Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than ten times without any approval from Chinese authorities.”
In recent days, Chinese media reported that Chinese authorities have spotted an unidentified flying object off its east coast and developed plans to shoot it down. The US denies the Chinese allegations, with National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson calling them “false.”
