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A2 u.s. news
Monday 13 February 2023

'Unidentified object' downed over Lake Huron, 3rd this week

By COLLEEN LONG, LOLITA down of an unknown or un- missile strike.
C. BALDOR and ZEKE MILLER authorized object over U.S. The officials said the Alaska
Associated Press territory occurred. and Canada objects were
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- The latest object brought not consistent with the fleet
dent Joe Biden on Sunday down was first detected of Chinese aerial surveil-
ordered an "unidentified on Saturday evening over lance balloons that target-
object" shot down with a Montana, but it was initially ed more than 40 countries,
missile by U.S. fighter jets thought to be an anomaly. stretching back at least
Sunday over Lake Huron, Radar picked it up again into the Trump administra-
and it was believed to be Sunday hovering over the tion.
the same one tracked over Upper Peninsula of Michi- That large white orb first
Montana and monitored gan and it was going over appeared over the U.S. in
by the government begin- Lake Huron. late January, and since
ning the night before, U.S. U.S. and Canadian authori- then Americans have been
officials said. ties had restricted some fixated on the sky above
The downing came after airspace over the lake ear- them. U.S. authorities made
earlier objects over Alaska lier Sunday as planes were clear that they constantly
and Canada were shot out scrambled to intercept and monitor for unknown radar
of the sky because they In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above try to identify the object. blips, and it is not unusual
were flying at altitudes that the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a The latest object was oc- to shut down airspace as
posed a threat to com- fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. tagonal, with strings hang- a precaution to evaluate
mercial aircraft, according Associated Press ing off, but had no discern- them, but they'd also take
to the officials, who had of anonymity to discuss the of the sky by U.S. fighter jets able payload. It was flying action when necessary.
knowledge of the down- sensitive operations. in eight days. Pentagon of- low at about 20,000 feet, On Sunday, the U.S. brief-
ings and spoke to The As- It was extraordinary that ficials have said they don't according to one senior ly closed the airspace
sociated Press on condition four objects were shot out know when the last shoot- U.S. official. over Lake Michigan but
U.S. officials were still try- reopened it roughly an
ing to precisely identify the hour later. Senate Major-
other two objects blown ity Leader Chuck Schumer
from the sky by F-22 fight- told ABC's "This Week" that
er jets over the past two U.S. officials were working
days. They also were work- quickly to recover debris.
ing to determine whether Using shorthand to de-
China was responsible as scribe the objects as bal-
concerns escalated about loons, he said U.S military
what Washington said was and intelligence officials
Beijing's large-scale aerial were "focused like a laser"
surveillance program. on gathering and accumu-
The object shot down Sat- lating the information, then
urday over Canada's Yu- compiling a comprehen-
kon was described by U.S. sive analysis.
officials as a balloon sig- "The bottom line is until a
nificantly smaller than the few months ago we didn't
balloon — the size of three know about these bal-
school buses — hit by a mis- loons," Schumer, D-N.Y.,
sile Feb. 4 while drifting off said of the spy program
the South Carolina coast that the administration has
after traversing the coun- linked to the People's Lib-
try. A flying object brought eration Army, China's mili-
down over the remote tary. "It is wild that we didn't
northern coast of Alaska on know."
Friday was more cylindrical Eight days ago, F-22 jets
and described as a type of downed the large white
airship. Both were believed balloon that had wafted
to have a payload, either over the U.S. for days at an
attached or suspended altitude of about 60,000
from them, according to feet. U.S. officials imme-
the officials who spoke to diately blamed China,
The Associated Press on saying the balloon was
condition of anonymity to equipped to detect and
discuss the ongoing inves- collect intelligence signals
tigation. Officials were not and could maneuver itself.
able to say who launched White House officials said
the objects and were seek- improved surveillance ca-
ing to figure out their origin. pabilities helped detect it.
The three objects were China's Foreign Ministry said
much smaller in size, dif- the unmanned balloon
ferent in appearance and was a civilian meteorologi-
flew at lower altitudes than cal airship that had blown
the suspected Chinese spy off course. Beijing said the
balloon that fell into the At- U.S. had "overreacted" by
lantic Ocean after the U.S. shooting it down.q