New UFO sightings appear to be popping up all around the United States over the past few days.
In the week since the U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, officials say at least three other strange flying objects have been blasted out of the sky, and there have been multiple additional incidents leading to temporary restrictions in pockets of sky around the Midwest.
In the most recent development, the U.S. military shot down a UFO over Lake Huron on Sunday.
BREAKING: The U.S. military has shot down a fourth aerial object over Lake Huron. Julie Tsirkin reports. https://t.co/RdYLvfum24 pic.twitter.com/wOODZlwa9y
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 12, 2023
“I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today,” tweeted Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MT) on Sunday afternoon. “The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots. The American people deserve far more answers than we have.”
I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today.
The US military has decommissioned another “object” over Lake Huron.
I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots.
The American people deserve far more answers than we have.
— Rep. Jack Bergman (@RepJackBergman) February 12, 2023
Hours earlier, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos he discussed the situation with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan the night before, and shared that U.S. officials believe the UFOs shot down after being observed over a remote part of Alaska and Canada were balloons.
These objects were “much smaller” than the balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean last weekend, Schumer said, and they were flying at a lower altitude of about 40,000 feet, endangering commercial aircraft.
“I think the Chinese were humiliated. I think the Chinese were caught lying, and it’s a real step back for them…they look really bad,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tells @GStephanopoulos about the Chinese balloon surveillance program. https://t.co/eS3P8M0epS pic.twitter.com/GrR27nUY3d
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 12, 2023
With salvage operations underway, Schumer said U.S. military and intelligence officials are focused on gathering and accumulating information. A “comprehensive analysis” will follow, the senator added.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Friday the UFO shot down over Alaska was “about the size of a small car” and “not similar in size or shape” to the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon. The Pentagon said recovery teams were deployed to collect debris on top of ice in U.S. territorial waters, per CNN.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced on Saturday a U.S. Air Force fighter jet shot down a UFO flying over the Yukon. He said Canadian forces would recover and analyze the wreckage of the object shot down over the Yukon. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said the UFO appeared to be a “small, cylindrical object.”
“We have no further details about the object at this time other than it appears to be a small, cylindrical object” pic.twitter.com/ocB4FnEVTQ
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 12, 2023
Little more information has been formally released through official government channels, and unlike the suspected Chinese spy balloon, there have been no reliable images of the other aircraft that have emerged.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon was much larger than the UFOs that followed and was flying at a higher altitude that apparently did not endanger commercial aircraft, according to U.S. officials. A senior State Department official said the vessel was equipped with “multiple antennas” capable of collecting signals intelligence, according to NBC News.
While concerns have been raised about why the military did not shoot down the balloon sooner as it transited a wide swath of the United States, the Pentagon stressed the danger of falling debris and even the possibility of the vessel carrying explosives.
China claims the vessel was a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course and condemned the United States for its decision to shoot the aircraft down.
There have been other potential sightings in the past 24 hours.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected what it called a “radar anomaly,” leading to a temporary flight restriction over the central part of Montana on Saturday night. But a fighter aircraft sent to investigate “did not identify any object to correlate” the radar hits and the restriction was lifted, NORAD said.
“I am in constant communication with NORCOM and they have just advised me that they have confidence there IS an object and it WAS NOT an anomaly,” tweeted Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) on Sunday. “I am waiting now to receive visual confirmation. Our nation’s security is my priority.”
I am in constant communication with NORCOM and they have just advised me that they have confidence there IS an object and it WAS NOT an anomaly. I am waiting now to receive visual confirmation. Our nation’s security is my priority.
— Matt Rosendale (@RepRosendale) February 12, 2023
Also on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed a section of airspace mostly over northern Lake Michigan in support of a national defense situation.
NEW: A new NOTAM has been posted and a Temporary Flight Restriction enacted until further notice in far northern Lake Michigan. This is once again National Defense Airspace.#balloongate continued? pic.twitter.com/BbN4WIRD3K
— Nick Stewart (@NStewCBS2) February 12, 2023
It was not immediately clear whether the temporary air restriction over Lake Michigan was connected to the object shot down over Lake Huron to the east on the other side of the state of Michigan.
Authorities in China said they witnessed a UFO off the coast of a port city, a state-run newspaper claimed on Sunday. There were also reports that Uruguay’s Air Force was investigating “flashing lights in the sky.”
During his interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Schumer claimed the United States only discovered such flying objects dating back to the Trump administration within the past few months. Indeed, new reports have divulged intelligence about sightings of high-altitude balloons believed to be from China around places such as Florida and Hawaii.
“It is wild that we didn’t know,” Schumer said. He added later: “Now they are learning a lot more. And the military and the intelligence are focused like a laser on first gathering and accumulating the information, then coming up with a comprehensive analysis.”
