President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to shoot down an “unidentified object” over the Great Lakes region on Sunday. U.S. forces are on heightened alert following the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over U.S. airspace late last month.
- A U.S. F-16 fighter jet shot down an unidentified octagonal object flying at 20,000 feet over Lake Huron in Michigan's Great Lakes region.
- The object was initially detected over Montana on Saturday before being dismissed as an "anomaly."
- The object was detected again on Sunday leading to the aerial strike.
- No surveillance capability was identified on the aircraft and its origin and function remain unclear.
- The incident marked the third day in a row that a flying object was destroyed over North American airspace.
- U.S. forces downed a cylindrical object flying over Canadian airspace on Saturday after destroying an unknown object over Alaska's northern coast on Friday.
- Pentagon officials have said that the string of aerial strikes has no precedent in peacetime.
- The
shootdowns were partly due to "heightened alert" following the
detection of a suspected Chinese spy balloon in late January, said Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.
