The US Military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron on Sunday. This is the latest incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon put North American security forces on high alert.
It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a US Missile in little more than a week.
US Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding US air space said that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects exactly are and their whereabouts.
VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said, "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason.”
"I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out,” he further added.
Speaking on the situation another defense official said that the military had not seen any evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial.
In an official statement Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said that a U.S. F-16 fighter shot down the object at 2:42 p.m. local time over Lake Huron on the U.S.-Canada border on the orders of President Joe Biden.
It did not pose a military threat however, the object could have potentially interfered with domestic air traffic as it was traveling at 20,000 feet (6,100 m), and it might have had surveillance capabilities, said Ryder.
Another official said that the object appeared to be octagonal in structure, with strings hanging off but no discernable payload.
The object was believed to be the same as one recently detected over Montana near sensitive military sites, prompting the closure of U.S. airspace.
Moreover, the incident raised questions about the spate of unusual objects that have appeared over North American skies in recent weeks and raised tensions with China.
U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell said, "We need the facts about where they are originating from, what their purpose is, and why their frequency is increasing.”
