The US has shot down UFO (unidentified flying object) that it said was flying near sensitive military sites, suspecting its use for spying.
The latest object was downed near the Huron in Michigan on the orders of President Joe Biden, according to
Sky News.
A US F-16 aircraft fired the missile at some 20,000ft, with concerns that the UFO's altitude and flightpath could pose a danger for civilian planes.
A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the object as "an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernible payload."
Fighter aircraft were scrambled Saturday after radar spotted an object over Montana, which could not be located and was then thought to be a result of a system error.
On Saturday (Feb 11), a US F-22 fighter jet shot down another UFO, this time over Alaska, days after the heated
‘Chinese balloon’ controversy.
The latest craft, an object the size of a small car, was downed by a Sidewinder missile, Reuters quoted US Brig Gen Patrick Ryder, Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, as saying.
On Feb 3, officials detected a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had been ‘flying for a couple of days’, a ‘brazen act’ just days ahead of a planned trip to Beijing by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The military took “custody” of the balloon and observed it with a piloted US military aircraft.
The incident recalls the lengths to which Beijing and Washington have been willing to go to ‘spy’ on each other amid rising tensions between the superpowers.
US Senator Marco Rubio, top Republican on Senate’s intelligence committee, had termed the spy balloon ‘alarming, but not surprising’.
The shootdown was ordered by President Joe Biden, which was complied by the authorities concerned.
According to Pentagon, the object was first seen using ground radars, and F-35 aircraft were then sent to probe it. The UFO was flying some 40,000 feet (12,190 metres) to the northeast, and was seen as a risk to civilian air traffic.
On Feb 3, officials detected a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had been ‘flying for a couple of days’, a ‘brazen act’ just days ahead of a planned trip to Beijing by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The military took “custody” of the balloon and observed it with a piloted US military aircraft.
The incident recalls the lengths to which Beijing and Washington have been willing to go to ‘spy’ on each other amid rising tensions between the superpowers.
US Senator Marco Rubio, top Republican on Senate’s intelligence committee, had termed the spy balloon ‘alarming, but not surprising’.