WASHINGTON — The Pentagon shot down an unidentified object that it tracked over Lake Huron, Michigan, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said, the fourth time in eight days a high-flying balloon or other craft has been brought down over the U.S. or Canada.
The latest object was flying at a lower altitude than the alleged Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by an F-22 off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, or the other objects targeted over Alaska and Canada on Friday and Saturday, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing actions that haven’t been publicly announced.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said the object was brought down by U.S. Air Force and National Guard pilots. “We’re all interested in exactly what this object was,” she said on Twitter.
The Pentagon and the National Security Council at the White House declined immediate comment.
“The U.S. military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron,” Rep. Jack Bergman, a Michigan Republican, wrote in another tweet. “I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots. The American people deserve far more answers than we have.”
The U.S. has claimed the balloon shot down last week was part of a global Chinese surveillance program, which China has denied. Officials have not said what the other three objects, where they came from or if they had any link to China.
—With assistance from Jenny Leonard.
