US officials shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron

WASHINGTON — An “unidentified object” was shot down Sunday for the third time in as many days, this time over Lake Huron, following previous ones in Alaska and Canada, This was announced by US representatives.

Rep. Alyssa Slotkin, D-Michigan, tweeted that “the object was shot down by Air Force and Air National Guard pilots.” The beating was confirmed by two US officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier on Sunday, US and Canadian authorities restricted some of the airspace over the lake as planes were sent to intercept and try to identify the object.

The news comes as U.S. officials are still trying to accurately identify two other objects shot down by F-22 fighter jets in the past two days and are working to determine whether China was responsible as concerns grow about what Washington sees as Beijing’s due a large-scale aerial surveillance program.

The object shot down on Saturday over the Yukon was described by US officials as a balloon much smaller than a balloon the size of three school buses struck by a missile on February 4 while drifting off the coast of South Carolina after crossing the country. A flying object crashed over the remote north coast of Alaska on Friday was more cylindrical and described as a type of airship.

Both were believed to have payloads attached or suspended, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. Officials could not say who launched the objects and are trying to determine their origin.

U.S. officials said the two recent objects were much smaller, had a different appearance and flew at a lower altitude than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that fell into the Atlantic Ocean after a U.S. missile strike. They said the sites in Alaska and Canada were not consistent with China’s fleet of aerial surveillance balloons targeting more than 40 countries, stretching back at least to the Trump administration.

This large white ball first appeared over the United States at the end of January, and since then the Americans have been fixated on the sky above them. US authorities have made it clear that they are constantly monitoring the unknown radars and often close the airspace as a precaution to evaluate them.

The US briefly closed airspace over Lake Michigan on Sunday; on saturday night it was done over rural montana. Officials on Sunday said they were no longer tracking any objects in those locations.