US Military Shoots Down 4th Chinese Balloon Over Lake Huron

On Sunday afternoon, a high-altitude object was shot down over Lake Huron, marking the fourth time in less than a week the US military has shot down a balloon in airspace in North America.

A small balloon was shot down over Canada on Saturday, a day after another object was shot down over Alaska airspace by a US F-22.

An F-22 shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the east coast of South Carolina last week.

There is no indication that the unidentified objects are linked to China’s surveillance balloon, but national security officials across the continent appear to be on high alert.

Pilots from the US Air Force operated to bring the object down over Lake Huron.

Earlier Sunday, the FAA temporarily restricted airspace over Lake Michigan near Wisconsin for “national defense.” NORAD nor the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said whether an object was detected over Lake Michigan during the operation.

On Saturday evening, airspace was briefly closed over Montana after a radar anomaly prompted a jet to investigate before the all-clear was given.

Description of Balloon over Alaska and Canada

Before the balloon was shot down over Lake Huron, a US official said on Sunday that the Biden administration had been cautious about the pilot descriptions of the objects shot down over Alaska and Canada.

“These objects were much smaller than the PRC balloon,” a National Security Council spokesperson said, referring to the suspected Chinese spy balloon.

On Sunday morning, Senator Chuck Schumer told ABC News that Jake Sullivan had briefed him and that the object shot down in Canadian airspace was a balloon, similar to the high-altitude object shot down over Alaska.

Canada’s chief of defense staff, General. Wayne Eyre mentioned a “balloon” when describing instructions given to the team that worked to recover the down object.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. General. Patrick Ryder, the balloon shot down in Canada’s airspace, had been tracked since Friday evening.

NORAD detected the object, and two F-22 fighter jets from Alaska were sent to intercept the ballon in Canadian airspace.

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said the balloon was smaller than the previously shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon.

According to a White House statement, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the shoot-down on Saturday.