The intelligence services of the United States are trying to find out what is hidden behind the four unidentified flying objects that fell last week in the North American sky.
Days after the Chinese spy balloon detected in Montana set relations between Washington and Beijing on fire, three more objects have been sighted in the sky and have been shot down by US forces. At the moment the origin and purpose for which the artifacts were sent is unknown, a fact that has fueled all kinds of hypotheses, including their extraterrestrial origin.
At the end of January, a giant balloon burst into US airspace over Montana, in the western part of the North American continent, forcing the closure of the Billings airport. The images that various citizens of the state shared on social networks on February 1 quickly became popular and aroused the first speculations about the origin of the flying object. After letting it hover over the continent for a few more days citing the danger the debris could cause if dismantled, President Joe Biden ordered the suspected spy balloon shot down by an F-22 jet off the coast of South Carolina. South.
According to official sources, the surveillance balloon was equipped with multiple antennas and had solar panels large enough to power various intelligence-gathering sensors. Despite the fact that the Chinese government affirmed that the aerostat carried out meteorological monitoring tasks, the Pentagon hypotheses suggested that it would have monitored several sensitive locations in Montana, a state that is home to one of the three US nuclear missile silo fields.
However, everything was complicated when on Friday, Saturday and Sunday three more objects were detected flying over the skies of Alaska, Canada and Michigan respectively, which the White House also decided to shoot down.
On Friday, the White House spokesman announced that an American jet had shot down another unidentified object over Alaska. It was the size of a small car and lacked any propulsion or control system, according to authorities. Despite the unknown purpose and origin of the object, as it was flying at an altitude similar to that of commercial aircraft, it was immediately considered a threat to air traffic.
Hours later, on Saturday, February 11, a similar “high-altitude airborne object” was shot down on the orders of the United States and Canada over the Yukon Territory in northwest Canada, 100 miles from the US border. Canada’s defense minister described it as a “cylindrical object and smaller than the one shot down off the coast of South Carolina.”
The third device was shot down on Sunday, February 12, in Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. Like the previous two, its provenance is unknown, but defense ministry sources described it as an octagonal structure with dangling threads.
United States Air Force General Glen VanHerck, responsible for overseeing North American airspace, said no explanation was ruled out. Asked if he had ruled out the possibility that the three downed aerial objects had an extraterrestrial origin, VanHerck replied: “I’ll let the intelligence community and the counterintelligence community figure it out. I haven’t ruled anything out.” And he added that they continue to “assess every unknown threat or potential threat approaching North America with the intent to identify it.”
The fact that the military could not determine the means by which the last three objects were kept in the air or where they came from has fueled some theories about their alien origin. “We call them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” VanHerck said.
The incidents come after the Pentagon launched a new initiative in recent years to investigate military sightings of UFOs, known in official jargon as “unidentified aerial phenomena.” The government’s effort to investigate unidentified anomalous objects—whether in space, in the sky, or even underwater—has led to hundreds of documented reports that are being investigated, senior military commanders have said.
However, the Pentagon claims that it has found no evidence indicating terrestrial visits by intelligent extraterrestrial life.
So far, only the first balloon has been attributed to Beijing.
The US military commander responsible for the security of US airspace said Sunday that he could not determine how the last three objects shot down in the last three days remained airborne or where they came from.
February 4 – The US military shoots down the first balloon, off the coast of South Carolina, after it flew over the US for days. It is suspected that it may be a spy device. The government claims that the balloon was of Chinese origin and that it had monitored sensitive sites.
February 10: The US destroys another object that flies over Alaska, without a propulsion mechanism, according to official sources.
February 11: An American jet shoots down an unidentified “high-altitude airborne object” over Yukon, Canada, 100 miles from the US border.
February 12: a fourth unidentified object is detected near Lake Huron, north of Michigan, and is also shot down by US military forces.
Military teams are currently scouring the waters off South Carolina for remains of the aerostat, of which they have already recovered a piece that is being analyzed by the FBI.
In Alaska, helicopters and transport planes have been deployed on the frozen Beaufort Sea ice to recover the second object, despite the cold: “Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow and limited daylight, are a factor,” the US military observed.
In the Yukon, Canadian CP-140 patrol aircraft are searching for remains of the third object.
US military personnel armed with specialized scuba gear for the extremely cold waters of Lake Huron are expected to quickly deploy to search for pieces of the fourth destroyed object.
After the penetration of the Chinese spy balloon, the North American Aerospace Defense Command adjusted its radar system to make it more sensitive. Consequently, the number of detected objects has increased considerably. In other words, if more airspace incursions are taking place, it’s because – chastened by the spy balloon furor – the White House is not letting devices it previously ignored.
“We have been taking a closer look at our airspace at these altitudes, including upgrading our radar, which may explain, at least in part, the increase in objects we have detected over the past week,” said the Under Secretary of Defense for National Defense and Global Security, Melissa Dalton. In this sense, the possibility of more objects being located in the coming days has not been ruled out.