United States Department of Defense at the moment the origin of the three devices shot down in the last three days in the US and Canada and cannot yet confirm if they are Chinese as was the spy balloon shot down on the 4th.
In a telephone press appearance, the US Undersecretary for Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Melissa Dalton, explained that both the device shot down this afternoon over Lake Huron, in Michigan, as well as the two previous ones in Canada and Alaska, were killed “as a precaution”, and stressed that “there has been no collateral damage in any of the operations of the last week”.
As explained by Dalton and the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), General Glen VanHerck, some of the remains of the object shot down today in Michigan have possibly fallen into Canadian waters of Lake Huron, and are in constant contact with the government of that country, both for demolition operations and for the collection of remains.
Since the Chinese spy balloon was located and shot down days later, the United States Department of Defense has increased surveillance of its airspace, which “partly” explains the increase in objects detected in recent days, Dalton said.
the undersecretary recognized that there may be many objects flying over the country whose purpose is not harmfulsuch as artifacts for “legitimate research”, but since none of those killed these days could be identified, the president decided to demolish them “as a precaution”.
The United States continues to refer to these artifacts as “objects”, without going into depth in their description, and General VanHerck said that’s why he doesn’t classify them as balloons, while the one shot down on February 4 was “clearly” a balloon.
He did admit that they may be artifacts “with some kind of balloon inside” although They can also be moved by a propulsion system. He insisted in any case that they are going to analyze the remains to be able to give more information about it.
The head of Norad insisted that there has been no “hostile” act by these artifacts, but if an unidentified object enters US or Canadian airspace they will always try to identify it and find out if it is a threat.
In this case, the governments of Canada and the United States discuss and assess whether it may pose a risk to their national security, For example, if it flies over sensitive defense areas such as missile silo fields, if it may affect the safety of civil aviation, or if it may pose a risk to people on the ground.
And if any of these cases occur, you have to act as has been done these days, VanHerck stressed.
In the case of the object shot down today, the Pentagon coordinated with the Federal Civil Aviation Administration (FAA) to close the airspace in the area where it was located.
The person in charge of Norad explained that ordered the pilots to “use their visual acuity”they would watch that the space was clear of aircraft and that there would be no damage on the ground, and they would minimize the possible collateral damage and when they felt comfortable to shoot or they made, using a 9x missile, the “best weapon” for this occasion.
Related news
The device shot down Sunday afternoon while flying over Lake Huron is the third “object” neutralized in the last three days in North America, after the one shot down on Friday over Alaska and the one on Saturday in Canada, and comes eight days after the shooting down of the alleged Chinese thorn balloon that flew over the country for several days until it was shot down in Atlantic waters .
As explained by the Department of Defense in a statement, by order of the president, Joe Bidenan F-16 of the Air Force shot down this new artifact at 2:42 p.m. (19:42 GMT). which was at 20,000 feet, just over 6,000 meters of altitude.