Another unidentified object that the US claims was flying dangerously close to military installations and might have been used for surveillance has been shot down, international media reported.
On the orders of President Biden, it was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan at 2:42 pm local time on Sunday, Sky News reported. Concerns were also raised regarding the US F-16 jet’s height and flight path as it fired a missile at 20,000 feet or so.
After objects were shot down in Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday, it marks the fourth occurrence in less than a week and the third in as many days.
A senior US official, speaking anonymously told Sky News, described the latest object as having “an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernible payload”.
Before US and Canadian jets were ordered to intercept it, authorities blocked airspace over the lake, which is close to the Canadian border.
On Saturday, jets were also activated after radar picked up an object over Montana. The object could not be discovered, and it was assumed that the radar had made a mistake.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), according to the Pentagon, picked up the signal once more on Sunday.
Earlier on Friday, the Pentagon said it shot down an unidentified object over frozen waters around Alaska at the order of President Biden, less than a week after a US claimed that its fighter jet brought down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic in an episode that increased tensions between Washington and Beijing.
