The US military is grappling with the mystery surrounding the recent shooting down of three flying objects over North America. This latest development has sparked speculation and raised questions about the nature of these objects, which have been described as anything from a “gaseous type of balloon” to extraterrestrial spacecraft.
The fourth object was shot down by President Biden’s order on Sunday, as it was flying at a height of 20,000 feet and could have posed a potential threat to commercial air traffic. The most recent object, shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan, has been described as an unmanned “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it.
US Northern Command Commander General Glen VanHerck stated that there was no evidence of any threat posed by the objects, and that they are being referred to as “objects” rather than balloons due to their small size and low radar cross-section. The general declined to speculate on the nature of the objects, saying that it was up to the intelligence and counterintelligence communities to determine their origin.
The shooting down of the objects follows a similar incident earlier in February, when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. China has denied any involvement in espionage, claiming the object was a weather monitoring device that had gone off course. Despite this, tensions have risen between the US and China in the aftermath of the incident. The US has since shot down three more high-altitude objects, two over Alaska and one over the Yukon in Canada.
The US and Canada are still trying to recover the remains of the objects, but the search has been made difficult by the harsh Arctic conditions in Alaska. The White House National Security spokesperson has stated that the objects did not closely resemble the balloon shot down on February 4th and that their true nature will not be determined until the debris can be recovered.
China’s foreign ministry has accused the US of flying balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times in the past year and of illegally entering the airspace of other countries. However, a US official has told the Washington Post that the detection of the recent objects could be due to a broadening of the search parameters from radars and sensors. The official went on to say that it is unclear whether this approach is producing more hits or if the new incursions are part of a deliberate action.
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