On Sunday, a US Air Force F-16 fighter attacked with a missile a certain object over Lake Huron in Michigan, which was in the air at an altitude of about 6 kilometers. A search is underway for its fallen fragments. Presumably, it had already been spotted by radar over military bases in Montana, but then pilots who took off to identify the object in the air found nothing.
This incident was the fourth such incident in the past two weeks. It began with the fact that in early February the US Air Force shot down a Chinese balloon flying over several states at an altitude of about 20 kilometers. Then, late last week, US fighters knocked out two objects over the state of Alaska and over Canada’s Yukon Territory.
“Send infantry, sailors, pilots! We are under attack!” – The Chinese Global Times jokes about the bellicose attitude of the White House towards the investigation, described in Beijing as meteorological. Photo: Global Times
But if in the case of the first incident it was possible to quickly find out that the ball belonged to the PRC, after which the incident turned into a political plane, there are still enough questions about the nature of the new objects slaughtered. What are they? What did you do? Where did they fly from?
In the three new cases, they did not resemble the first balloon, which the Pentagon compared in size to two or three buses. For example, an object shot down over Alaska was noticeably smaller (comparable to a car) and flew lower, at an altitude of about 12 kilometers. Destroyed over the Yukon had a cylindrical shape. And the last one over Lake Huron looked like an octagon and there was no load attached to it.
According to the NYT, the military generally cannot yet answer unequivocally, because of which these objects have moved through the air. Fox News sources say they were most likely still small, unusually shaped balloons. All of them were shot in hard-to-reach territories, so the search for their fragments may be delayed.
Joint North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command chief Gen. Glen Van Herk said the military has yet to determine the nature of the objects. He underlined the last word by adding: “We don’t just call them objects, not balloons.” And when asked by reporters about the possibility of an extraterrestrial origin of uninvited celestial guests, the four-star general replied earnestly that “nothing is ruled out at this stage”.
Members of Congress demand more explanation from the White House, insisting that the authorities’ silence can give rise to a ferment of mind and to all kinds of speculation on a resonant subject that is making all the headlines General public. Even serious publications do not hesitate to catch up on conspiracy theories. The Politico newspaper, for example, writes that “Washington is in UFO fever.” The New York Times resumes: “What’s going on upstairs? There are many theories about the mysterious downed objects, few answers.”
The NYT recalls that in recent years, authorities have begun to pay more attention to various unidentified objects on the territory of the United States. Basically, the military proceeds from the fact that these phenomena in the air are explained by the intelligence activities of other countries. Moreover, it is not just about observation, but also, for example, trying to test the ability of the United States to detect such objects and act against them. Thus, after the first balloon shot down at the Pentagon, China was accused of setting up a surveillance program of the territory of the United States. Celestial Empire authorities said the probe was performing meteorological functions and losing its course. And the day before, the Chinese Foreign Ministry reported that American balloons had invaded Chinese airspace more than 10 times since last year, recommending the United States to “reflect on its own actions”.
“Nevertheless, almost all of these incidents have not yet received a clear explanation,” recalls the NYT, referring to a partially declassified military report in 2021. It described about a hundred and a half cases of UFOs in the sky over the United States. This week, Congress is expected to receive an updated report from the intelligence community on this matter.
A little more clarity on why so many objects have been spotted over the United States. The Pentagon explains their invasion by the fact that after the incident with the Chinese balloon, changes were made to the operation of ground radars and the interpretation of their signals. The Washington Post warns that more such cases will be uncovered in the near future. The White House said President Joe Biden is now regularly reported on objects in the sky.
Fox News, meanwhile, poses the question “what to do?”. His sources indicate that these objects did not pose a great military threat. They shoot them down more out of caution, seeing them as a potential reconnaissance threat or a possible hazard to commercial flights. But whether such a permanent use of force makes sense is an open question. Clearing objects requires closing airspace, ramping up fighters, and launching missiles.
Nevertheless, the incidents themselves for America, far overseas from the “hot spots” of the planet, are extraordinary, if only because, according to the head of the US Northern Command, it is generally the first time in history that the country’s Air Force “took kinetic action” against an aerial object over the American mainland.
