Within days, the US military destroyed four flying objects: a suspected spy balloon from China and three other mysterious missiles about which not much is known. What’s behind it?
The mystery in the sky over North America is getting bigger: The US military shot down another unidentified flying object yesterday. This time, an F-16 fighter jet took down a missile over Lake Huron in the state of Michigan, according to the US Department of Defense in Washington.
The Pentagon stressed that there was still no information on where the missile came from and what it was aiming for. Ominous flying objects over North America have been puzzling the United States and the world for days – and are increasingly causing unrest.
The new kill
The North American Air Defense Command Norad spotted the flying object on Sunday morning and tracked it visually and by radar, the Pentagon said. It was traveling at an altitude of about six kilometers. The trajectory and altitude gave cause for concern that the object could pose a threat to civil aviation.
Potential monitoring options for the property would also have posed a risk. President Joe Biden therefore gave the order to shoot it down. The remains of the flying object should now be recovered to learn more about the background.
The other cases
US fighter jets shot down two unidentified flying objects on Friday and Saturday: one off the coast of the US state of Alaska, the other over northern Canada. So far it is unclear what kind of objects they were, where they came from and what their goal was. The salvage of debris should also provide answers about the background in these cases – so far, however, it has been difficult.
A week earlier, the US Air Force had brought down a Chinese balloon suspected of being used for espionage off the coast of the state of South Carolina. The US government accuses China of using the balloon to spy on military installations. Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civilian research balloon that had gone off course.
According to a media report, dozens of Chinese military balloons have also entered Taiwanese airspace in recent years – far more than previously known. “They come very frequently, the last one just a few weeks ago,” said a senior Taiwanese official, according to the Financial Times. Another person said there were such overflights on average once a month.
So far, the Defense Ministry in Taipei had only confirmed one such incident a year ago involving a string of balloons over the north of the island. According to the US military, China has deployed a fleet of observation balloons. The monitoring program extends to more than 40 countries on five continents.
The incident in the United States caused further tension in the already strained relationship between the two countries – also because Washington accuses China of operating a large surveillance program with balloons of this type, with which they targeted more than 40 countries on five continents.
The parallels and the differences
According to the US government, the Chinese balloon flew at an altitude of about 18 kilometers, well above the altitude at which civilian air traffic operates. It was therefore the size of two to three buses and could be seen with the naked eye. The Americans very quickly assigned the balloon to China – and classified it as a means of espionage.
With the other three flying objects, it is still unclear who sent them on their way and for what purpose. According to official information, they were significantly smaller than China’s balloon – and at lower altitudes.
The flying objects over Alaska and Canada were shot down at an altitude of around twelve kilometers. The Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, said on Sunday, citing the National Security Council, that it is currently assumed that the balloons were also involved. But Norad director Glen VanHerck dismissed this: “I’m not going to classify them as balloons – we don’t call them ‘objects’ for nothing.”
The accumulation of kills
VanHerck, who is also commander of US Northern Command, said that to his knowledge, the US military had never before had to shoot down aircraft in US airspace. Now suddenly four times within eight days.
When asked if the US public should be prepared for a whole series of more kills, the general said: “Anything approaching North America, if it is unknown, I will identify – and assess whether it poses a threat . If it’s a threat, I shoot it down.” Norad is currently not tracking any other objects. “That’s not to say there won’t be more at some point in the future, but we don’t see anything at the moment.”
The Pentagon leadership said that after the Chinese balloon was shot down, the US military took a closer look at American airspace at high altitudes and improved radar technology. That at least partly explains the increased discovery of such objects. Whether that means, conversely, that many such missiles had already been flying over US territory and were simply not noticed remained open.
The theories
The lack of reliable information on the origin and background of the flying objects gives room for all kinds of conjectures. There is already speculation on social media about a possible invasion by aliens. When asked by a reporter whether the US Department of Defense could rule out that extraterrestrials were behind the ominous missiles, VanHerck replied: “I’ll leave it to the intelligence services and counterintelligence to find out. I haven’t ruled anything out at this point.”
It is questionable whether the statement is suitable for curbing speculation. In any case, congressmen from both parties are urging more information on the incidents to prevent wild theories from spreading further.