The U.S. military announced on Sunday February 12 that it had shot down yet another "object" high above Lake Huron, the latest of the mysterious flying objects that have placed U.S. and Canadian authorities in a state of emergency. 'alert. It is the third "object" shot down in three days by the Americans in their country and in Canada, and the fourth in less than ten days, including the Chinese balloon described by Washington as a spy device and targeted by a missile on February 4 after flying over part of the United States.
With this news, the pressure is growing even more on the Biden administration, from whom elected officials, Republicans and Democrats alike, are demanding more information. This time it is an "octagonal" object with no visible nacelle, which flew about 20,000 feet in the state of Michigan, according to a senior administration official.
Although it was not considered a "military threat" to the ground, it was shot down by an F-16 because its course and altitude could have posed a risk to civil aviation, the official said. Pentagon. "We have no indication that he has spy abilities.
This new object appears to be the reason the airspace over Montana and then part of Lake Michigan was closed on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, for "national defense" reasons. A fighter jet dispatched to Montana to investigate a "radar anomaly" initially failed to identify a flying "object", according to the military.
But U.S. forces "detected an unmanned object (from) Montana today (Sunday) over Wisconsin and Michigan," the administration official said. "The location chosen to shoot it down allowed us to avoid any impact to people on the ground and improve the chances of recovery of the debris," according to the Pentagon.
The United States believes the first officially detected object, a balloon, was controlled by the Chinese military and was part of a fleet sent by Beijing over more than 40 countries on 5 continents for espionage purposes. The Chinese government assures that it was a civilian aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological.
The United States communicated with Beijing about the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon, which was shot down on February 4, after requests for dialogue from the Pentagon were denied for several days, a defense official said on Sunday. "Contacts have been made with the PRC regarding the high-altitude balloon," Deputy Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton told reporters, referring to the People's Republic of China.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had asked to speak with his Chinese counterparts shortly after a US fighter jet shot down the balloon which had been in US skies for several days. These demands went unheeded, with Beijing lambasting Washington's decision to down the ball. "This irresponsible and seriously erroneous act has not created a climate conducive to dialogue and exchanges between the two armies", justified the Chinese Ministry of Defense in a press release.
"The United States insisted on using force against a Chinese civilian airship, which seriously contravenes international practice and sets a bad precedent," according to the same source. Melissa Dalton did not give details of the exchanges between the two powers.
