Just Politics

Military shoots down 4th flying object in U.S.

The United States has shot down another unidentified flying object in the fourth military operation in February 2023.

President Joe Biden ordered it to be downed near Lake Huron, close to the Canadian border, on Sunday afternoon.

The object could have interfered with commercial air traffic as it was traveling at 20,000ft (6,100m), Pentagon said in a statement on Sunday.

Pentagon added that the flying object was first detected above military sites in Montana on Saturday.

The object, which was not deemed a military threat, has been described by defence officials as an unmanned “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it.

It was downed by a missile fired from an F-16 fighter jet at 14:42 local time (19:42 GMT).

READ ALSO: U.S. shoots down Chinese spy balloon

The incident raises further questions about the spate of high-altitude objects that have been shot down over North America this month.

A suspected Chinese spy balloon was downed off the coast of South Carolina on 4 February after hovering for days over the continental US.

Officials said it originated in China and had been used to monitor sensitive sites.

China denied the object was used for spying and said it was a weather monitoring device that had been blown astray. The incident – and the angry exchanges in its aftermath – ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing.

But on Sunday, a defence official said the US had communicated with Beijing about the first object after receiving no response for several days.

It was not immediately clear what was discussed.

Since that first incident, American fighter jets have shot down three further high-altitude objects in as many days.

President Biden ordered an object to be shot down over northern Alaska on Friday, and on Saturday a similar object was shot down over the Yukon in north-western Canada.

Officials have not publicly identified the origin or purpose of these objects.

Both the US and Canada are still working to recover the remnants, but the search in Alaska has been hampered by Arctic conditions.

“These objects did not closely resemble, and were much smaller than, the (4 February) balloon and we will not definitively characterise them until we can recover the debris,” a White House National Security spokesperson said.

The Star

Segun Ojo

Recent Posts

N10m extortion: IGP vows punishment for corrupt police officers

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has condemned alleged extortions by some police officers…

2 hours ago

Kaduna govt earmarks N93bn to boost water supply

The Kaduna State Government has announced plans to spend N93 billion over four years for…

5 hours ago

Trump picks campaign manager as White House chief of staff

United States President-elect Donald Trump, on Thursday, November 7, 2024, announced that one of his…

5 hours ago

EPL fixtures: Chelsea host Arsenal as Liverpool face Aston Villa

Chelsea will aim to deepen Arsenal's misery in their Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge…

6 hours ago

NAICOM gives insurers December 31 deadline to clear outstanding claims

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has given insurance companies a December 31, 2024, deadline to…

8 hours ago

Makinde: Nigerians looking up to PDP, we’ll fix party to fix Nigeria

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde says the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will do everything…

8 hours ago

This website uses cookies.