Topline
U.S. military forces shot down a flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday, members of Congress said, marking the fourth takedown of an airship over North America since last Saturday, when planes from fighters destroyed an alleged Chinese spy balloon first spotted in US territory on January 28. .
High-altitude objects flying over North America were shot down with F-22 fighter jets overhead … [+]
Highlights
Military fighter pilots “disabled another ‘object'” from the sky over Lake Huron sometime Sunday afternoon, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) tweetednoting that he was in contact with the Ministry of Defence.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) also confirmed the withdrawal, tweet on sunday that US Air Force and National Guard pilots shot down the ship – she also pressed the Biden administration for additional details and said she would “continue to ask Congress to get a briefing complete based on our exploitation of the wreck”.
The FAA said earlier on Sunday it had closed National Defense airspace over Lake Michigan to allow the US military to probe a ‘potential contact’ that was determined not to be not a threat.
The dismantling comes after the United States shot down a flying object over Canada on Saturday and a ship over Alaska on Friday.
While it’s unclear which object was destroyed over Lake Huron, intelligence officials believe the other two shot down last week are also balloons, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday (DN.Y .), citing information he said was relayed by White House national security. Councilman Jake Sullivan.
Bergman, echoing bipartisan calls in Congress for more information from the Biden administration on the suspect balloons, said “the American people deserve far more answers than we have.”
Forbes contacted the Department of Defense.
Key context
The American army beaten down an aerial object Saturday over the Yukon in Canada, about 100 miles from the US-Canada border in an operation coordinated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD. The cylindrical object was “potentially similar” to the alleged Chinese spy balloon destroyed off South Carolina on February 4, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said on Saturday. A day earlier, American fighter planes unassigned an object flying over Alaska that had entered U.S. airspace on Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. said General Pat Ryder. The takedowns come after a balloon that US officials believe was used by the Chinese government for surveillance purposes was spotted over US territory on January 28 and shot down on February 4 while suspended above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon was first spotted over the Aleutian Islands before heading to Billings, Montana and east across the United States to the Atlantic Ocean. Recovery efforts are underway at all three sites. The alleged balloon sightings have raised tensions with the Chinese government and prompted congressional lawmakers to call on both parties for more information on the Biden administration’s balloon program, which revealed last week that at least five Chinese spy balloons crossed the United States during ex-President Donald Trump. and Biden presidencies.
Tangent
NORAD issued a temporary airspace closure over Montana after detecting a “radar anomaly” on Saturday, but ultimately found no objects. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), however, left open the possibility that the object has not yet been discovered: “There may still be something up there, it may be a false alarm,” he said on CBS. Face the Nation.
Chief Spokesperson
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) has accused the Biden administration of not being “provid” on balloon programs, he said on NBC Sunday. Meet the press, adding that he has ‘real concerns’ on the lack of information provided by the administration. Both houses of Congress were briefed on the Chinese spy balloon last week and the House on Thursday passed a resolution condemning the Chinese government for deploying the device and saying it was a civilian vessel used for the meteorological research. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Tx.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) also criticized the Biden administration for what they said to be a failure to communicate more information about the balloons. The trajectory of the Chinese spy balloon over sensitive sites “did a lot of damage,” McCaul said on CBS. Face the Nationwhile Turner called the Biden administration “particularly annoying” for withholding information, he told CNN State of the Union.
Further reading
Everything we know about the ‘high altitude object’ shot down over Alaska (Forbes)
US shoots down object over Alaska that posed ‘threat’, Pentagon says (Forbes)
US shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon over Atlantic (Forbes)