Objects shot down over Alaska and Canada in recent days did not resemble the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off South Carolina and were much smaller, a National Security Council spokesperson said on Sunday. of the White House.
“These objects did not resemble the PRC balloon and were much smaller than it, and we will not give them a final characterization until we have recovered the debris, which we are currently working on,” he said. .
The announcement was made in response to questions about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s comment that US officials believe the object shot down over Canada on Saturday and another flying object shot down Friday near from Deadhorse, Alaska were balloons. .
The first balloon was shot down off South Carolina on February 4. The second was shot down over the ocean near Deadhorse, Alaska on Friday. The third was destroyed over the Yukon in Canada on Saturday.
Twice in 24 hours, US authorities closed the airspace for a short time. On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration briefly closed space over Lake Michigan. On Saturday, radar showed anomalies and the US military in Montana dispatched fighter jets for reconnaissance.
“They believe it was (balloons), yes, but much smaller than the first one,” Schumer said.
Schumer said he was confident that after the wreckage of the first balloon shot down over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina was recovered, people would find out what it was used for.
The White House said the recently shot objects “do not look much like” a Chinese balloon, echoing Schumer’s description of being “much smaller” than the first balloon.
Also on Sunday, the US military shot down a flying object over Lake Huron near the Canada-US border, US officials said.
This is the fourth such interception this month.
Canadian authorities also closed airspace on Sunday near Tobermory, Ont., on Lake Huron near the U.S. border.
Speaking on Fox News, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCall said the balloon shot down over the coast of South Carolina was on a mission to obtain images of US nuclear facilities .
“They want to get pictures, get intelligence on our military capabilities, especially nuclear,” McCall said. “And they themselves create quite a large nuclear stockpile.”
