The United States shot down another unidentified object it said flew near a sensitive military site and could be used for espionage.
It crashed over Lake Huron, Michigan, at 2:42 p.m. local time on Sunday president bidenThe command.
A US F-16 jet fired a missile at an altitude of about 20,000 feet amid concerns that its altitude and flight path could endanger civilian aircraft.
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It was the fourth incident in just over a week and the third in as many days after the object was in Alaska and Canada Friday and Saturday,
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the latest object as having an “octagonal structure with dangling ropes but no discernible payload.”
Authorities restricted airspace over the lake near the Canadian border before U.S. and Canadian jets were dispatched to intercept it.
The jet also scrambled Saturday after radar detected an object over Montana but could not locate it, which is thought to have been a mistake.
However, the Pentagon said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) picked up the signal again on Sunday.
“Based on its flight path and data, we can reasonably associate this object with a radar signal received over Montana flying close to the sensitive Department of Defense [Department of Defense] website,” a statement said.
“We did not assess it as a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assessed it as a safe-to-fly hazard and a threat because of its potential surveillance capabilities.”
Where was the flying object shot down?
The team is trying to salvage the object from the lake.
U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck admitted that he did not know what the last three objects that were shot down were or how they remained in the air.
However, he told reporters that they were with Chinese ‘spy’ balloon shot down near South Carolina a week ago.
“We call them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” he said, also refusing to rule out any explanation when asked if they could be aliens.
A U.S. National Security Council spokesman said earlier Sunday that the unidentified objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were “much smaller” than Chinese balloons.
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“The object is cylindrical”
canadian prime minister justin trudeau Said the team was looking for objects that had been shot down in his country.
An American F-22 stealth jet shot it down over the sparsely populated northwestern Yukon Territory on Saturday.
“The recovery team is on the scene looking for and analyzing the object,” Mr Trudeau told reporters.
“There is still a lot to learn about it. That’s why the analysis of this object will be very important.”
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand described it as cylindrical but smaller than a Chinese balloon.
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Ms Anand said it was flying at 40,000 feet and posed a threat to civilian aircraft when it went down about 100 miles from the border at 3:41 p.m. EDT (8:41 p.m. GMT).
The Pentagon said NORAD spotted the object late Friday over the coast of Alaska.
The jet took off from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and rendezvoused with Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft after the object crossed the border.
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The Pentagon said a US F-22 shot down the object using an AIM 9X missile following “close coordination” between the two countries.
Trudeau said the military would salvage the wreckage, that he had spoken to President Biden, and thanked NORAD for “keeping a close eye on North America.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK would conduct a security review based on the latest developments.
He said: “The UK and its allies will examine what these airspace incursions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat landscape is deteriorating.”
Earlier this week, Beijing admitted that the balloon that was shot down in South Carolina was from China But insisted it was a “civilian airship”.
It said it strayed into U.S. airspace for meteorological and other scientific research.