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The U.S. and Canada awoke Sunday facing high-stakes questions: How safe are the skies over North America? And just how pervasive is China’s aerial surveillance program on the continent?
Top U.S. lawmakers indicated Sunday that two unidentified flying objects shot down over Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory on Friday and Saturday, respectively, appear to be balloons — though much smaller than the massive Chinese spy craft that traveled over the U.S. two weeks ago before it was shot down off the South Carolina coast. The Biden administration has not yet definitively said the objects are balloons, nor have officials publicly said the craft came from China, though it appears increasingly likely that is the case.
The three incidents have combined to fuel fascination and fear among the American public, with rampant speculation over the weekend that the craft may be part of Chinese spying operations, a Russian psychological warfare campaign or even the first salvo of an extraterrestrial invasion.
By historical standards, the military’s response has been stunning. It is exceedingly rare for U.S. military aircraft to shoot down objects in North American skies, let alone three in just one week.
On top of that, the Pentagon late Saturday evening scrambled fighter jets and the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace after a “radar anomaly” in the skies over Montana, sparking fears of yet another UFO.
Defense officials said that the jets did not find an object correlating with that anomaly, but the incident added yet another layer of drama.
“What’s gone on in the last, you know, two weeks or so, 10 days, has been nothing short of craziness,” Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. “And the military needs to have a plan to not only determine what’s out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.”
Mr. Tester suggested that there may still be an unidentified object over his home state.
“My guess is it’ll get shot down. But the military will make an assessment as to potential collateral damage just like they did on the Chinese balloon,” he said.
The Biden administration has faced withering criticism for its handling of the first Chinese spy balloon, which was spotted over Montana and allowed to travel across the entire country before being shot down on Feb.
