US shoots down fourth flying object

[Sheilbh]

U.S. Shoots Down a Fourth Flying Object
The fourth flying object was shot down over Lake Huron by the United States on Sunday.
Helene Cooper

By Helene Cooper
Feb. 12, 2023Updated 5:05 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — The United States shot down a fourth flying object over North America on Sunday, this one over Lake Huron in Michigan, U.S. officials said.

The Pentagon used an F-16 fighter jet that shot the object with a Sidewinder air-to-air missile. This object was unidentified, as was an object shot down over the Yukon Territory in Canada on Saturday and another shot down over the Arctic Ocean near Alaska on Friday.

The episodes began on Feb. 4, when the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

The latest turn in the aerial show taking place in the skies above North America comes after a helter-skelter weekend involving what at times seemed like an invasion of unidentified flying objects.

The incursions seemed to become so common that Biden administration officials have found themselves issuing private assurances that there is no evidence that they involve extraterrestrial activity. But officials also acknowledge privately that the longer they are unable to provide a public explanation for the provenance of the objects, the more speculation grows.

On Friday, after tracking an unidentified object 40,000 feet in the air across Alaska and into a fairly congested air traffic route for commercial flights between the United States and Asia, the United States shot down the object. It used the same type of airplane (an F-22) and weaponry (a Sidewinder air-to-air missile) that was used to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon a week earlier.

But soon after recovery teams began the effort to locate and identify the debris in the Prudhoe Bay area, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is operated by the United States and Canada, began tracking a second unidentified object. This one moved across Alaska on Friday night and crossed into Canada on Saturday before it was shot down by an American fighter jet over the Yukon Territory.

The second object, Canadian authorities said, was cylindrical. The first object, American officials said, was the size of a small car, though one official said it was also cylindrical.

Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent, and was part of the team awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, for its coverage of the Ebola epidemic. @helenecooper

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/12/us/politics/us-shoots-down-object-michigan.html

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[Tonitrus]

Time to start up XCOM.  Too bad the aliens may already have a head start in subverting donor nations.

[The Larch]

Time to start up XCOM.

The world is screwed, then.

[Tamas]

Just saw something from CNN a few days ago about NORAD beginning to monitor for slower moving objects. So I guess probably they weren't noticing dangerously high flying balloons previously.

[HVC]

The incursions seemed to become so common that Biden administration officials have found themselves issuing private assurances that there is no evidence that they involve extraterrestrial activity. But officials also acknowledge privately that the longer they are unable to provide a public explanation for the provenance of the objects, the more speculation grows.

People are very, very, stupid.

[Josquius]

Just saw something from CNN a few days ago about NORAD beginning to monitor for slower moving objects. So I guess probably they weren't noticing dangerously high flying balloons previously.

.

This makes sense.

It seems weird this would suddenly start now, and that we haven't heard a peep before hand... The media does decide what's a story but not to that extent.

[Tamas]

JUST IN - ESA has discovered a small meteorite that will "safely" impact Earth's atmosphere tonight over northern France

[Zoupa]

Picture taken this morning over Kelowna, British Columbia (ie right next to where I live)



Seems the Chinese/russkies/aliens are testing our response time.

[Zoupa]

I lol'ed

[jimmy olsen]

It's happening!

NYT reporter: Have aliens or extraterrestrials been ruled out? NORAD Commander: "I haven't ruled out anything"

Click for audio of question and answer
https://mobile.twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1624934609707233280

[Legbiter]

I love some of the headlines. 

[HVC]

We should fly Winnie the poo floats over China... to study the weather.

[Grey Fox]

It would be so cool if this was actual sentient life from somewhere else.

[Legbiter]

You guys need to retrieve all the Elerium and start researching laser rifles and fusion cores immediately.

[Tonitrus]

Just saw something from CNN a few days ago about NORAD beginning to monitor for slower moving objects. So I guess probably they weren't noticing dangerously high flying balloons previously.

My understanding is that these last few objects are not balloons.