Lake, pond, water – illustrative photo.
Washington/Ottawa – The US military shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron. With reference to American officials, foreign press agencies inform about it today. In the last three days, this is the third unknown object over North America that the military has shot down. Last week, the Americans shot down a Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina, which Washington called a spy balloon.
Advertisement'; }
“The object was shot down by US Air Force and National Guard pilots,” she said on Twitter todayMichigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. “We are all interested in what kind of object it was and what its purpose was,” she added. U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give details about the appearance of the unidentified object that was shot down today, Reuters reported.
Today's disposal of the flying object, according to agency sources, was ordered by US President Joe Biden. “President Biden ordered the unidentified object to be shot down as a precaution and on the recommendation of the military command,” the unnamed official said, according to AFP. The Pentagon said today that the object posed a threat “due to its potential surveillance capabilities” and that it was flying near sensitive US military locations.
According to CNN, the object shot down today had an octagonal shape and was flying at an altitude of about 6,000 meters above ground and was about to fly over Lake Huron when it was disabled. The authorities registered it for the first time in the evening over Montana, writes CNN.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted traffic over nearby Lake Michigan before today's military intervention, citing the need for national defense. Ottawa also announced restrictions on air traffic on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes. Similar restrictions were ordered by the authorities even before similar interventions by the Army Air Force in recent days.
Four flying objects have already violated North American airspace in the last two weeks. Last week, on Saturday, a US military fighter jet shot down a Chinese balloon, which the United States called a spy balloon, that flew over American territory at the behest of President Biden. This week, on Friday, an American fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Alaska, and on Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the downing of an unidentified object over Canada's Yukon Territory.
Currently, there is no indication that the unidentified objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were linked to the Chinese balloon shot down earlier. But security officials seem to be on guard, CNN reported. According to Reuters, the press office of the White House National Security Council said today that the two downed objects over Alaska and the Yukon look different from the mentioned Chinese balloon and were also much smaller.
The leader of the Democrats in the US Senate Chuck Schumer previously in in an interview on ABC television, he said that US officials believe that the flying objects shot down in recent days over Alaska and Canada were balloons. He also mentioned that they were smaller than the Chinese balloon from last week. Canada's prime minister said today that teams are searching for the cylindrical object to analyze it and learn more about its purpose and origin.
