: Heres Everything We Know About Unidentified Objects Shot Down Over the U.S. and Canada #WorldNEWS U. S. fighter jets shot down yet another “unidentified object” on Saturday—this

Heres Everything We Know About Unidentified Objects Shot Down Over the U.S. and Canada #WorldNEWS
U. S. fighter jets shot down yet another “unidentified object” on Saturday—this time over Canadian territory—marking the third time they have taken down an object over the past week.
Initial reports of an “unidentified object” early this month turned out to be a Chinese spy balloon, which was likely being used to gather intel as it traversed over several sensitive sites in the U. S. That balloon was later taken down near South Carolina’s coast on Feb. 4.
On Friday, American aircrafts shot down a separate unidentified object near Alaska’s airspace, though it is not clear what the object was or if it was related to China’s surveillance balloon program. Both the objects, the one shot down Friday and the one in Canada on Saturday, were flying at approximately 40,000 feet, which posed a potential risk to passenger planes.

Chinese officials maintain that the initial spy balloon was a weather-monitoring device that accidentally entered American airspace, but the Biden administration’s assessment of the balloon’s remnants found that it had propellers that could alter its direction.
The administration also found that the incident was just one of multiple high-altitude surveillance missions China has engaged in, affecting more than 40 countries thus far.
Here’s the information we have thus far:
U. S.
On Jan. 28, a 200-foot-tall spy balloon first traveled above the Aleutian Islands near Alaska before it broke into the continental U. S. on Jan. 31. Civilian pilots then spotted the balloon and raised concerns, prompting the Pentagon to admit to its presence in the country on Feb. 2. Officials temporarily ordered a halt to flights coming in and out of Billings, Mont. and sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to the area.
The journey of the balloon was the cause of much debate, as many questioned why officials were waiting to act. American fighter jets later shot down the surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4, as President Biden wanted to wait for the object to reach water to prevent pounds of debris from endangering Americans’ homes and lives.
“Our number one concern was how can we take this down, while not creating undue risk to people or property,” a senior defense official told the press during a background briefing call.
The U. S. State Department said the balloon had technology that likely allowed it to collect data on Americans’ communications and location. The Chinese spy balloon’s flightpath went over multiple security sites, including Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile fields.