Elon Musk has weighed in on the takedown of an unidentified “object” over Lake Huron in Michigan with a dash of humour.
On Sunday, US military fighter jets shot down an “object” over Lake Huron, the third such incident over the weekend since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted last month, putting North American security forces on high alert.
Defence officials said they are still trying to establish the nature of the Lake Huron “object”, when asked about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The officials said they were not ruling anything out.
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” US Air Force General Glen VanHerck VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) and Northern Command, said as he refused to rule out any explanation, no matter how far fetched.
After the takedown of an unidentified “object” over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday, the Twitter boss sought to assuage his followers.
“Don’t worry, just some of my ‘alien’ friends stopping by,” tweeted Mr Musk, using alien and UFO emojis.
In a statement, the Department of Defense said the “object” was shot down over concerns about its “potential surveillance capabilities”.
The Pentagon, however, said it is yet to ascertain where it came from.
A recent report, meanwhile, said China is preparing to take down another unidentified “object” flying near a major naval base in Qingdao.
“Relevant authorities” are preparing to shoot down the “object”, a worker at a marine development authority in Qingdoa’s Jimo district told local news outlet The Paper about the plans, reported Bloomberg.
Four vessels, including a suspected Chinese balloon that the US said was used for surveillance, had entered US and Canadian airspace since late January.
Beijing denied the balloon was a surveillance airship, saying it was used to monitor the weather and had entered US airspace by accident.
