US military forces have shot down three unidentified objects in North American airspace over the past three days, at the direction of President Joe Biden. Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said the objects were taken down by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard, but the US military has not provided any details on the objects, their origin, or their purpose. The consecutive days of takedowns have raised questions about the security of North American airspace.
Posts tagged as “North American Aerospace Defense Command”
US fighter jets have shot down three unidentified objects in North American airspace in the past week, raising questions from Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., about the Biden administration's lack of transparency. Himes noted that the "Gang of Eight" received a "very extensive briefing" on the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down last week, but that information about the other objects may be scarce. The US Department of Defense has not yet released any information about the objects.
Justin Trudeau has confirmed that an unidentified object was shot down over Canadian airspace on his orders on Saturday. The object was detected by NORAD and was shot down by a U.S. military F-22 over the Yukon. Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden have discussed the incident, and Canadian and U.S. forces will lead the recovery operation, highlighting the close cooperation between the two countries in defending their shared airspace.
At a briefing on Monday, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck revealed that Chinese balloon threats have gone undetected by the United States in the past, highlighting an “awareness gap” that needs to be resolved. The discovery of the balloon has raised questions about the security of the U.S. and Gen. VanHerck said that the U.S. needs to figure out how to better detect these threats in the future. The Biden administration has not yet commented on the issue.
The Pentagon has revealed that three Chinese spy balloons were able to transit the continental United States undetected under the Trump administration. General Glen VanHerck has revealed that the payload weighed in excess of a couple thousand pounds and was estimated to be around 20 stories tall. This incident has raised concerns about the security of the United States, and the Pentagon is now taking steps to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.