The U.S. Air Force shot down its third balloon in as many days over Lake Huron:
US fighter jets shot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron on Sunday, marking the third time such action was taken in as many days and coming on the heels of last week’s Chinese spy balloon scandal.
Sunday’s takedown is believed to have involved an object that was tracked by radar over Montana on Saturday, when it “flew in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.
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“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities,” Ryder said.
What’s it all about? I have no idea. Have surveillance balloons been cluttering up the skies for years, and we are just now learning about it? Is this some new offensive launched by China and, perhaps, Russia? And what can you surveil with a balloon that you can’t with an orbiting satellite? As I said, I have no idea.
And I don’t expect the Biden administration to come through with a coherent explanation any time soon.
* I’m calling any flying or floating object that isn’t a satellite a balloon. But the government is being coy about the nature of these recent UFOs:
U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay aloft, or where they are coming from.
How they stay aloft? Seriously?
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said.
Asked if he’s ruled out extraterrestrials, VanHerck said he had not ruled out anything yet.
To be clear, other officials say they don’t think it’s aliens. That is reassuring, I guess.
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