Monday, February 13, 2023 | 6:46 p.m.
A US fighter plane shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday on the orders of President Joe Biden, the fourth such shootdown in eight days and the latest military operation in an extraordinary chain of events in US airspace. United States, which Pentagon officials say is unprecedented in peacetime.
Part of the reason for the repeated downings is an “intensified alert” after a Chinese spy balloon was detected over US airspace in late January, said Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD, for its acronym in English) and the United States Northern Command, in a meeting with reporters.
Since then, fighter jets have shot down objects over Canada and Alaska in recent days. Pentagon officials indicated they posed no security threats, but so little was known about them that military officials were not ruling anything out, not even UFOs.
“We have been taking a closer look at our airspace at these altitudes, including by increasing our radar power, which may explain the increase, at least in part,” said Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for national defense.
The US authorities have clearly specified that they constantly monitor radar in case unknown objects appear, and it is not uncommon for them to close airspace as a precaution to assess them. But the unusually forceful response was raising questions about whether the use of such force was justified, especially after government officials said the objects did not pose a major national security concern and that the takedowns were carried out out of an abundance of caution.
VanHerck said the United States adjusted its radar so that it could track slower-moving objects. “With some adjustments, we’ve now been able to get a better categorization of the radar tracks,” he said, “and that’s why I think you’re seeing these, plus there’s an intensified alert to look for this information.”
“I think this is the first time within the United States or in US airspace that NORAD or US Northern Command has taken kinetic action against an airborne object,” he said. When asked if authorities have ruled out extraterrestrial beings, VanHerck replied: “At this point I have not ruled out anything.”
Pentagon officials said they were still trying to determine exactly what the objects were, noting that they had considered using the fighters’ machine guns instead of missiles, but it proved too difficult. They also made a strong distinction between the three objects shot down over the weekend and the globe in China.
The extraordinary anti-aircraft defense activity began in late January, when a white balloon that Washington said was of Chinese origin appeared over the United States and hovered over the country for days before being shot down by fighter jets off the coast of Myrtle Beach. South Carolina. That event was broadcast live on the internet. Since then many Americans have been captivated by the drama of fighter planes shooting down objects.
The latest to be shot down was first detected Saturday night over Montana, but was initially thought to be an anomaly. Radar picked it up again Sunday as it flew over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Lake Huron, Pentagon officials said.
US and Canadian authorities had restricted a certain part of the airspace over the lake hours before so that fighters could fly out to intercept and try to identify the object. It was octagonal, with ropes dangling, but had no discernible payload. It was flying at a low altitude, about 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), according to one of the officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
