The American “Fox News” network reported that the mysterious object that flew over Lake Michigan cost the government about one million dollars to shoot it down.
She explained that a US Air Force F-16 fighter fired a sidewinder aim-9x air-to-air missile, known to be short-range, at the mysterious object, which Washington later said was a metal balloon.
But it missed the target and the balloon did not fall over Lake Huron on the US-Canadian border.
It is not clear where the missile landed.
The fighter fired a second missile of the same type, and the balloon was shot down, according to what the network quoted unnamed US officials.
The cost of one such missile is $400,000.
The Pentagon described the UFO as a small metal balloon that was flying near Michigan before it was shot down.
She added that there was a load attached to the balloon.
The Washington Post: The Chinese balloon is part of a surveillance program
It stated that the balloon was flying near sensitive sites, before it was shot down.
The Pentagon had said earlier that an F-16 fighter had shot down an unidentified object, but it did not say anything about a missile that missed the target.
He added that the object not only posed a danger to civil aviation, but was also a potential tool for espionage.
He confirmed that the order to drop the unknown object came on the orders of US President Joe Biden.
How did the story of flying objects begin in the skies of America and Canada?
- At the end of last January, the US and Canadian authorities spotted a Chinese balloon, which Beijing acknowledged belonged to it, but the two sides disagreed about the nature of this balloon. While Washington says it is espionage, Beijing has repeatedly confirmed that it is for scientific purposes and has lost its way.
- After the balloon hovered for several days in the sky of the United States, US President Joe Biden ordered it to be shot down on February 4, with warplanes off the coast of South Carolina overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
- During the following days, the issue of the appearance of strange flying objects was repeated in the skies of Canada and America.
- Washington accused Beijing of being involved in the UFO flight, but China denied this accusation.
- An American general did not rule out that UFOs came from extraterrestrials, but the White House confirmed that there are no indications of that.
Semi uniform trajectory
- The information available so far on the objects that were shot down, including the Chinese airship, shows that they came from the North Pacific Ocean.
- These objects flew over Alaska, then in Canadian airspace, before making their way towards the United States.
- In at least two cases, the Chinese airship and another unidentified object flew over sensitive military sites.