“The real question is whether China sent it to ratchet up tensions,” a defense expert told Newsweek.
President Joe Biden has had to give four orders the past 10 days for the U.S. military to shoot down airborne objects across North America.
The most recent was flying above Lake Huron and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Sunday. It was an “octagonal structure” shot down by an F-16, Republican Michigan Representative Jack Bergman. The Pentagon confirmed that the F-16 was carrying Sidewinder AIM-9x missiles that can cost up to $472,000.
Two other objects recently shot down by the U.S. were over northern Alaska on Friday and over the Yukon Territory in northern Canada on Saturday. Those two and the one over Lake Huron were smaller and flying at much lower altitude than the Chinese balloon taken out over South Carolina on February 4.
“It’s also relatively cheap, as far as air-to-air missiles go,” said Vittori, who also is a non-resident fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It’s made to be used within visual range, so it’s well-designed to have a pilot get up close to the balloon, visually observe and confirm what it is, fire at it at relatively close range, and stay close to confirm that the balloon was hit.”
The most recent versions can also allow the pilot to lock onto a target before firing so he or she can designate the target, she said, even if there is not a great deal of heat signature from the balloon.
