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AN “UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT” has been shot down with a missile by US fighter jets over Lake Huron, near the Canadian border.
It was believed to be the same one tracked over Montana and monitored by the government beginning the night before, US officials said.
The downing comes after earlier objects in Alaska and Canada were shot out of the sky because they were flying at altitudes that posed a threat to commercial aircraft, according to the officials.
Earlier today, US and Canadian authorities restricted some airspace over the lake as aircraft were scrambled to intercept and try to identify the object.
Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin tweeted that “the object has been downed by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard”.
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 it’s purpose. 1/ https://t.co/LsjwtjntCv
— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) February 12, 2023
The shootdown was confirmed by four US officials.
The news comes as US officials were still trying to precisely identify the other two objects blown from the sky by F-22 fighter jets over the past two days, and were working to determine whether China was responsible, as concerns escalate about what Washington says is Beijing’s large-scale aerial surveillance programme.
The object shot down Saturday over the Yukon was described by US officials as a balloon significantly smaller than the one hit by a missile on 4 February while drifting off the South Carolina coast after traversing the country.
A flying object brought down over the remote northern coast of Alaska on Friday was more cylindrical and described as a type of airship.
Both were believed to have a payload, either attached or suspended from them, according to the officials.
Officials were not able to say who launched the objects and were trying to establish their origin.
US officials said the two more recent objects were much smaller in size, different in appearance and flew at lower altitudes than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that fell into the Atlantic after the US missile strike.
They said the Alaska and Canada objects were not consistent with the fleet of Chinese aerial surveillance balloons that targeted more than 40 countries, stretching back at least into the Trump administration.
That large white orb first appeared over the US in late January, and since then Americans have been fixated on the sky above them.
US authorities made clear that they constantly monitor for unknown radar blips, and it is not unusual to shut down airspace as a precaution to evaluate them.
Today, the US briefly closed the airspace over Lake Michigan and on Saturday night over rural Montana.
Officials have said they were no longer tracking any objects over those locations.
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Was it Sam Smith by any chance ?
@Declan B: lol
Any further information on the massive chemical spill as a result of the derailed train in Ohio? Looks to be a bad one.
@Robert Moore: go over and ask them, we only care about objects in the sky over America.
@Robert Moore: I did see a reporter doing a piece to camera about it at a governor briefing and then he was inexplicably told to stop filming which he did and then he was wrestled to the ground and arrested. It was like something that would happen in Russia. Obviously there is something to hide.
Curiouser and curiouser
@Paul Whitehead: Happy 80th grandad!!
Are these just Chinese new year celebration balloons gone astray? With over 1.4 billion released, there is bound to be a few over our airspace too. We need to get those fishermen to sort these Chinese out. They made short shrift of the Russians.
@Paul Whitehead: Theyre the size of 3 school buses
@G man: 4 arses
@Jason Geraghty: 1 belly.
No doubt the Americans will try to turn it on Russia at some stage
@Pat ALTHEA: it’s the Chinese there after Pat.
Breaking News: US Fighter jets shoot down the birthday balloon of Johnny aged 7!!!
The pilots that shot it down said it had no visible propulsion system, they don’t know how it was staying in the air … and it was affecting the sensors in their plans. I just seen the clips on CNN.
@Keith Fay: Thank Christ for CNN ..Afraid to watch Fox or Sky news…They would have put it down to Russia or Chinese invasion.
@Keith Fay: propulsion system means driving in a certain direction.. balloons in general don’t have this..
@Ciaran: do you not trust a fighter pilots ability to identify a balloon?
Top gun
@Liam Meade: top gun 2 so overrated
have your say