Spy Balloons Now Reidentified as Mysterious Unknown Object

After the destruction of a Chinese-launched spy ballon on February 4, three mysterious objects were shot down by U.S. fighter jets.

Unlike the Chinese-made surveillance balloon that public officials could trace its approximate origin and date of launch, nothing suggests these objects originated from a different country. This sentiment is echoed by other officials, namely President Biden.

All that’s accurately stated about the unidentified objects is the difference in shape and conventional design compared to China’s balloon. “There’s strong consideration that these objects are indeed benign,” White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, stated when asked how they confirmed its lack of correlation with the balloon identified on February 4.

Surveillance Balloon Identification

On Feb. 10, 2023, an unidentified object was spotted in Alaska at 40,000 feet in the air. To ensure its origins pilots conducted a fly-by of the object, finding it unmanned. Later reportedly described to be the size of a small car, it was shot down. Upon the object’s destruction, it reportedly broke into pieces.

In Canada, North American Aerospace Defence Command detected another object. This time, however, the object looked “small, metallic ballon”, cylindrical in nature, and attached to a payload behind it. In a joint effort between President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the object downed by efforts to follow an “abundance of caution”.

On the next day on Sunday, a third object appeared flying at an immensely lower height than the first. Upon NORAD’s discovery of a “radar anomaly” over Lake Huron. When shot down, it was identified to be in the shape of an octagon with strings dangling from it.

Bidens Call to Action

However, whether these objects can be identified or not, U.S. state officials like Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have called China’s actions a clear violation of U.S International law.

“We are going to keep our allies and Congress contemporaneously informed of all we learn and all we know and I expect to be speaking with President Xi, but I make no apologies for taking down that balloon,” Biden remarked after the recent discovery of these objects.

Echoing other public officials Biden confirmed that the three objects discovered were likely not a part of China’s private program. Instead, the found objects are likely tied to private companies or research institutions.

“We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase of objects in the sky,” Biden said. “We are just seeing more of them partially because of the steps we have taken to narrow our radars and we have to keep adapting our approach to dealing with these challenges.”

Written by Brielle R. Buford

Sources

ABC News: U.S.: No Indication of Chinese Espionage in Latest Mysterious Ariel Objects

NPR: Biden says the 3 ariel objects shot down were not Chinese spy balloons

NBC News: China says U.S. downing suspected spy balloon ‘disregarded international law’

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License