The United States shot down another unidentified flying object yesterday in the border area with Canada. US President Joe Biden ordered the shooting down over Lake Huron as a precautionary measure, a senior government official said. The object was not classified as a “military threat”. Shortly therefollowing, the Pentagon also officially confirmed the launch.
US Air Force and National Guard pilots were involved in the operation, according to Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who previously reported on Twitter regarding the incident.
US fighter jets had already shot down two unidentified flying objects on Friday and Saturday: one off the coast of the US state of Alaska, the other over northern Canada. So far it is unclear which objects were involved, where they came from and what their goal was. The salvage of the remains of the flying objects should provide information regarding this.
The incidents were reminiscent of a Chinese balloon suspected of being used for espionage purposes that the US Air Force had brought down from the sky off the coast of the state of South Carolina a week earlier. It is still unclear whether the incidents are related.
China also wants to shoot down flying objects
It had previously been said that China was also preparing to shoot down an unidentified flying object. As the daily newspaper “Global Times” reported, citing a local shipping authority, the mysterious flying object was sighted yesterday off the waters of the prefecture-level city of Rizhao in Shandong province. In a message, fishermen were urged to take special care of their safety.
Initially, there was no further information regarding which flying object it was. The news was the most discussed topic in China’s social networks, with several million users clicking on the corresponding hashtag within a few hours on the online platform Weibo alone.
The incident is vaguely reminiscent of the three flying objects recently shot down by the US military, including a balloon from China suspected of being used for espionage purposes. The Chinese government, on the other hand, claims that the flying object was a “civilian, unmanned airship” that accidentally deviated from its original route due to strong winds.
