US Military Shoots Down 4 Unidentified Objects in North American Airspace
In the past eight days, the US military has shot down four unidentified objects in North American airspace, the latest being an object near Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday.[0] The first incident occurred two weeks ago when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.[1]
On Friday, an unidentified object was taken down in Alaska airspace by a US F-22.[2] On Saturday, an unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada, and on Sunday, the US fighter jet shot down an object over Lake Huron.[3]
The Department of Defense (DOD) clarified that the object’s “path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation,” noting that it did not appear to pose a “kinetic military threat to anything on the ground.”[4]
Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan tweeted Sunday afternoon, “The object has been downed by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard. Great work by all who carried out this mission both in the air and back at headquarters. We’re all interested in exactly what this object was and its purpose.”
On Sunday, Rep. Jack Bergman, a Republican from Michigan, also confirmed that the US military had decommissioned an entity in Lake Huron, tweeting, “The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron.”
The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday, at the direction of President Joe Biden and based on the recommendations of military leadership.[5] An F-16 fired an AIM 9X sidewinder missile, the same weapon used in the previous instances.[6]
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement late Saturday that it detected a “radar anomaly” and sent fighter aircraft to investigate but the aircraft could not identify any object “to correlate to the radar hits.”[7]
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau both gave their approval for the shoot-down, according to a statement from the White House.[8]
The White House released a statement which reported that President Biden had authorized US fighter jets from NORAD to carry out the mission. As a result, a US F-22 successfully shot down the object which was located in Canadian territory, and the action was taken in close cooperation with Canadian authorities.[8]
0. “Unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron — Everything we know about it” FOX 2 Detroit, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/unidentified-object-shot-down-over-lake-huron-everything-we-know-about-it
1. “What we know about the unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron on Sunday” WXYZ 7 Action News Detroit, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.wxyz.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-unidentified-object-shot-down-over-lake-huron-on-sunday
2. “Flying ‘Octagon’ Shot Down Near U.S.-Canada Border On Sunday” Forbes, 12 Feb. 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnovak/2023/02/12/yet-another-flying-object-shot-down-near-us-canada-border-on-sunday
3. “Pentagon: Fighter jets from Truax Field shoot down unidentified object near Lake Huron” Channel3000.com – WISC-TV3, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.channel3000.com/news/breaking-news/pentagon-fighter-jets-from-truax-field-shoot-down-unidentified-object-near-lake-huron/article_f563b192-ab40-11ed-a55a-abd8832045d4.html
4. “U.S. Military Shoots Down Yet Another Flying Object—This Time Over Lake Huron” The Daily Beast, 12 Feb. 2023, https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-military-shoots-down-object-flying-over-lake-huron
5. “First Thing: ‘octagonal’ flying object shot down in Michigan” The Guardian US, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/first-thing-octagonal-flying-object-shot-down-michigan
6. “Lake Huron object decommissioned after air closures” Detroit Free Press, 12 Feb. 2023, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/02/12/lake-huron-ufo-unidentified-object-decommissioned/69897156007
7. “U.S. military shoots down unidentified object over Great Lakes region” CBS News, 13 Feb. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unidentified-object-shot-down-great-lakes-region-lake-huron-sunday-2023-02-12/
8. “Here is what we know about the unidentified objects shot down over North America” KABC-TV, 12 Feb. 2023, https://abc7.com/unidentified-object-shot-down-north-america/12805407
