The US military shot down an unidentified object flying over Lake Huron on February 12, according to a US House member from Michigan, who revealed that it had an "octagonal structure".
"I have been in contact with DOD regarding operations in the Great Lakes region today," Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) tweeted around 3:30 p.m. Washington time. “The US military shot down another 'object' over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action of our fighter pilots."
Bergman told Fox News on February 12 that the object had an "octagonal structure" and was shot down by an F-16 jet at 20.000 feet. He cited Pentagon officials for the information.
“I was informed that an F-16 using an AIM-9 missile had shot down an octagonal structure over Lake Huron. The altitude was about 20.000 feet,” Bergman said in a phone interview broadcast by Fox News. Officials were working to recover the debris, he added, saying "there was no damage to human life or property."
The Pentagon later confirmed that the F-16 jet fired an AIM-9x short-range air-to-air missile to shoot down the object.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA officer, wrote that "the object was brought down by U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard pilots," adding, "an outstanding job by all who carried out this mission both in the air and back to headquarters.
"We are all interested in what exactly this object was and its purpose," Slotkin wrote. "As these things continue to cross the US and Canada, I will continue to ask Congress to be fully briefed based on our exploitation of the debris."
Unnamed military sources told ABC News and CNN that US forces shot down the object, which was described as high altitude. The nature of the object was not disclosed.
The FAA confirmed it had closed "some airspace over Lake Huron to support DoD operations," a spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Feb. 12. The Defense Department did not respond before press to a request for comment.
It was the fourth flying object in recent days to be shot down over North American airspace, coming about a week after a US F-22 shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. This balloon was located near Billings, Montana and was allowed to cross the United States before the US military took action.
On February 10 and 11, unidentified flying objects were shot down by US jets over Alaska and northern Canada. So far, officials have provided few details about them, including whether or not they are suspected spy balloons.
On February 12, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it temporarily restricted airspace over Lake Michigan before reopening airspace a short time later. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed that it “implemented a temporary flight restriction in the airspace over Lake Michigan at approximately 12 p.m. EST on February 12, 2023."
"The FAA briefly closed an airspace over Lake Michigan to support Department of Defense operations," an FAA spokesman told The Epoch Times on Feb. 12, without elaborating. "Airspace reopened."
Meanwhile, Canadian investigators are searching for the wreckage of the mysterious flying object that was shot down by a US fighter jet over the Yukon Territory, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on February 12. White House adviser Jake Sullivan said officials believe both objects were also balloons, though smaller than the one that went down near the South Carolina coast a week ago.
Also on February 11, the FAA and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) restricted a portion of Montana airspace after discovering a "radar anomaly." A US military aircraft did not detect any objects associated with the one detected on radar, NORAD said.
The Pentagon said in a statement Sunday that it believes "based on its flight path and data" that the object shot down over Lake Michigan was the radar signal received over Montana and that the object flew near sensitive locations of the DOD.
"Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more," he added.
In addition, the FAA closed the airspace around Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona, on February 12 due to the NFL's Super Bowl LVII. The FAA and NORAD have closed airspace near Super Bowl games in previous years.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Feb. 12 that the administration seemed "kind of happy about the trigger."
"Although that's certainly preferable to the permissive environment they showed when the Chinese spy balloon was coming over some of the most sensitive locations," Turner added. Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, called on the Biden administration to be as careful as possible about removal incidents.
Chase Doak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
