Washington: The United States has shot down another unidentified airborne object in its airspace, a day after it brought down a similar “cylindrical” object over Canada.
An F-16 fighter jet, at the direction of President Joe Biden, fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down the airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in US airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder said on Sunday.
The object was shaped like an octagon with strings hanging off it and no discernible payload, CNN reported, quoting an official and another source briefed on the matter. Although the United States has no indication that the object has surveillance capabilities, that has not been ruled out as yet.
After the shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday, this is the third such shooting down of an unidentified airborne object in a week. The previous two were shot down by US fighter jets in Alaska on Friday and one over Canadian airspace on Saturday.
Unlike the first balloon, which the US says is from China, the origin of the rest of the three has not been disclosed yet by US and Canadian authorities.
Biden ordered the shooting down of the airborne object on Sunday at the recommendation of Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation.
The location chosen for this shoot-down afforded the opportunity to avoid impact on people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery, the Pentagon official said.
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