WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said an “unidentified object” was shot down Sunday for the third time in as many days, this time over Lake Huron, following earlier downings in Alaska and Canada.
Representative. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., tweeted that the “object was shot down by US Air Force and National Guard pilots.” A US official confirmed the downing.
US and Canadian authorities restricted some of the airspace over the lake on Sunday as planes scrambled to intercept and try to identify the object.
THIS IS A HATE NEWS UPDATE. AP’s backstory follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials on Sunday tried to locate the last two objects dropped from the sky by F-22 fighter jets during an unprecedented week of raids in the United States and Canada, working carefully to determine whether China was responsible , as concerns over what Washington says is Beijing’s large-scale aerial surveillance program.
The object shot down over the Yukon on Saturday was described by US officials as significantly smaller than the school bus-sized balloon hit by a missile on February 4 as it drifted off the coast of South Carolina after crossing the country. A flying object shot down over the far north coast of Alaska on Friday was more cylindrical and described as a type of airship.
Both are believed to have a payload attached or suspended, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. Officials could not say who threw the items and were trying to determine their origin.
US officials said the two latest objects were much smaller, different in appearance and flying at lower altitudes than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that fell into the Atlantic Ocean after the US missile strike. They said the objects in Alaska and Canada are not consistent with China’s fleet of aerial surveillance balloons that have targeted more than 40 countries, at least until the Trump administration.
That large white sphere first appeared over the United States in late January, and Americans have been fixated on the sky above them ever since. US authorities said they constantly monitor for unknown radar signals and that it is not unusual to close airspace as a precaution to evaluate them.
The United States briefly closed airspace over Lake Michigan on Sunday; On Saturday night, it was done in rural Montana. Officials said Sunday they are no longer pursuing any items from those locations.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC This Week that US officials are working quickly to recover the debris from all the sites. Using shorthand to describe the objects as balloons, he said US military and intelligence officials were “laser-focused” on gathering and accumulating information, then compiled a comprehensive analysis.
“The bottom line is, until a few months ago, we didn’t know about these balloons,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said of the spying program the administration has linked to the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military. “It’s strange you didn’t know that.”
Eight days ago, F-22 jets shot down the great white balloon that had been hovering over the United States for several days at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. US officials immediately blamed China, saying the balloon was equipped to detect and gather intelligence signals and could maneuver itself. White House officials said enhanced surveillance capabilities helped detect it.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the unmanned balloon was a civilian weather aircraft that flew off course. Beijing said the US “overreacted” by shooting it down.
Then on Friday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the joint US-Canada organization that provides the joint defense of the two nations’ airspace, detected and shot down an object near Deadhorse, Alaska.
Later that evening, NORAD detected a second object flying high over Alaska, US officials said. It crossed Canadian airspace near Yukon, a remote province, on Saturday and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered it shot down.
In both incidents, the objects flew at about 40,000 feet, posing a potential threat to civilian aircraft flying at that height.
The three cases have heightened diplomatic tensions between the United States and China, raised questions about the extent of American surveillance in Beijing and prompted days of criticism from Republican lawmakers about the administration’s handling of the matter.
Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the administration seems “pretty happy.”
“Although that is certainly preferable to the permissive environment they displayed when the Chinese spy balloon arrives over some of the more sensitive locations,” Turner, R-Ohio, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
After last week’s shooting, Chinese officials said they reserved the right to “take further steps” and criticized the United States for “obvious overreaction and flagrant violation of international practice.”
Connecticut Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, urged the administration to be as open as possible, saying the lack of solid information was fueling online speculation.
Himes said one thing that was clear from briefings over the past few years was “that there’s a lot of junk up there” in the sky.
“The truth is, most of our sensors and most of what we were looking for didn’t look like balloons,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
I’m a passionate and motivated journalist with a focus on world news. My experience spans across various media outlets, including Buna Times where I serve as an author. Over the years, I have become well-versed in researching and reporting on global topics, ranging from international politics to current events.