Four mysterious “objects” have been shot down over America and Canada this month as speculations grow suspected Chinese spy balloons.
US military fighter jets have been deployed four times within eight days to strike down a large suspected Chinese surveillance balloon and three smaller unidentified flying objects in the skies over Alaska, Lake Huron, and in the Yukon territory of Canada.
The first balloon was shot down on 4 February in South Carolina, while a “high altitude object” was shot down over Alaska on Friday. That was followed by another over Canada’s northwestern province of Yukon on Saturday.
On Sunday, the US military confirmed it had shot down another unidentified object flying over Lake Huron, between the American state of Michigan and Canada’s Ontario.
Officials have described the mysterious objects as similar in size to a Volkswagen Beetle but “slightly different in profile,” according to The Washington Post.
An “octagonal”-shaped object above Lake Huron was flying at 20,000 feet over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and travelling towards nearby Lake Huron when it was shot down, according to the US Department of Defense.
Here is a map showing where the mysterious objects have been spotted:
“We’re calling this an object because that’s the best description we have right now,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday in a briefing on the Alaskan operation.
“We do not know who owns it, whether it’s state-owned or corporate-owned or privately owned.”
The recent events have also prompted the UK defence secretary to call for a security review.
Ben Wallace said he would work with the US and other partners to examine intelligence and assess the threat posed by the surveillance devices.
Speaking separately on Monday morning another government minister said it was “possible” that spy balloons have been deployed by China across Britain’s airspace.
Richard Holden, a transport minister told Sky News: “It is also possible, and I would think likely, that there would be people from the Chinese government trying to act as a hostile state.”
He added: “I think we have to be realistic about the threat these countries pose to the UK.”
Asked how concerned ministers were about the US shooting down unidentified objects in recent days, Mr Holden said: “I think the government is concerned about what’s going on.”
