ADVERTISEMENT

Pentagon Says Latest Shootdowns Result From Increased Caution

The US has identified more aerial objects — and shot them down as a precaution —  as it has paid closer attention to North American skies after shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4, according to the Pentagon.

393295 05: (FILE PHOTO) An F-22 Raptor 4001 stealth fighter is silhouetted against the setting sun in this undated file photo. The Pentagon gave Lockheed Martin approval August 15, 2001 to begin production of the stealth jet to replace the Air Force''s F-15 fighters. (Photo courtesy of United States Air Force/Kevin Robertson/Getty Images)
393295 05: (FILE PHOTO) An F-22 Raptor 4001 stealth fighter is silhouetted against the setting sun in this undated file photo. The Pentagon gave Lockheed Martin approval August 15, 2001 to begin production of the stealth jet to replace the Air Force''s F-15 fighters. (Photo courtesy of United States Air Force/Kevin Robertson/Getty Images)

The decision to shoot down three aerial objects in recent days stemmed from a decision to pay closer attention to North American skies and take a more cautious stance toward intrusions after US forces brought down an alleged Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4, the Pentagon said. 

The Defense Department doesn’t yet know what the additional objects are, but they approached sensitive military sites and posed a potential threat to commercial aviation, according to Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs. 

After downing the Chinese balloon “we have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we’ve detected over the past week,” Dalton said in a briefing Sunday. 

She said countries, companies and research organizations send up objects at those altitudes “for purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate research.” She said the objects were shot down out of “an abundance of caution.”

Pentagon Says Latest Shootdowns Result From Increased Caution

A US F-16 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron in Michigan earlier on Sunday, the fourth time in eight days a high-flying balloon or other craft has been brought down over the US or Canada. The US general in charge of NORAD said he hasn’t ruled out any possibilities on the source of three objects shot from the skies over the US and Canada — including that they might be of extraterrestrial origins.

“I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out,” General Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said when asked Sunday if the US had excluded the possibility that the objects shot down over Alaska, Canada and Michigan were “aliens or extraterrestrials.” 

“I haven’t ruled out anything at this point,” he said.

WATCH: US officials are saying that another unidentified object has been shot down over Michigan. Natalie Obiko Pearson reports.Source: Bloomberg
WATCH: US officials are saying that another unidentified object has been shot down over Michigan. Natalie Obiko Pearson reports.Source: Bloomberg

By contrast, the Biden administration said the high-altitude craft brought down on Feb. 4 was a Chinese spying balloon, which China denies, saying it was a weather balloon that went adrift. 

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.