On Monday, the pressure was put on Joe Biden’s White House to reveal more of what it knows about a string of mysterious objects shot down by U.S. forces over eight days in North American airspace. Sunday’s missile strike on an unidentified “octagonal” flying over Lake Huron, Michigan was the third incident after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. That has raised questions from Republicans.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hinted on Monday that the object was part of a “pattern” of surveillance of the United States and its allies by China and Russia, citing the U.S. Air Force. The commander said US forces had spotted a Chinese spy balloon in the “recent past” in the Middle East. Florida Republican Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed that unidentified aircraft had “routinely” flown through restricted U.S. airspace for years.
Defense officials hosted an off-camera briefing with reporters late Sunday but were unable to provide more details of the origin, composition, or purpose of the object felled on Biden’s orders by an F-16 fighter jet over Michigan, or similar high-altitude objects shot down over Yukon, Canada, on Saturday and Deadhorse, Alaska, the day before. The latter two were believed to have a payload, either attached or suspended from them, according to the officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The senior air force officer leading the briefing said he could not eliminate the possibility of extraterrestrial activity.
Lt Gen Alexus Grynkewich, commander of US air forces central, told reporters on Monday that a Chinese spy balloon had recently been sighted passing through the Middle East, according to Foreignpolicy.com. A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said the United States had “overreacted” and accused Washington of repeatedly invading Chinese airspace with its own reconnaissance balloons.
