Everything we know about the unidentified object shot down over Lake Huron

An F-16 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object Sunday over Lake Huron on the U.S. side of the border with Canada that flew over Michigan and other parts of the country, the fourth incident over North American airspace during the past eight days, prompting one lawmaker to call the situation "disturbing."

The object had passed over Wisconsin, Lake Michigan and the Upper Peninsula before it was shot down about 15 nautical miles east of the U.P. in Lake Huron, Pentagon officials said Sunday night. Once hit, they said, the object drifted and likely landed in Canadian waters in the lake, where the Coast Guard and others are working to recover it.

"This object flew over Michigan and other parts of the country," said Rep. John Moolenaar, who represents part of the northern Lower Peninsula, in a statement. "I hope it will quickly be recovered and identified with more information made available to the public as soon as possible. I will continue to be in contact with officials at the Department of Defense to help ensure Michigan residents are safe."

The Department of Defense said that at 2:42 p.m. Sunday, an F-16 from a Wisconsin Air National Guard unit in Madison fired an AIM9x Sidewinder missile to take down an "airborne object" flying at about 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in Michigan.

"Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation," a Pentagon statement said. "The location chosen for this shootdown afforded us the opportunity to avoid impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery. There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected."

The defense department said it did not assess the object to be a "kinetic military threat to anything on the ground" but deemed it a flight safety hazard and a threat "due to its potential surveillance capabilities."

The military on Saturday night had scrambled F-15 fighters to investigate an unknown object picked up by radar that crossed from Canadian to U.S. airspace around 6 p.m., but they couldn't locate it, said Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, who briefed reporters.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected an object again Sunday morning and tracked it both visually and via radar, according to the defense department.

"Based on its flight path and data, we can reasonably connect this object to the radar signal picked up over Montana, which flew in proximity to sensitive DOD sites," the Pentagon said.

VanHerck said the military was "cleared to engage the target" in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan while it was over land but that it was shot down over the lake.

"I've been in touch with the Pentagon, DHS, and FAA regarding the closure of air space over the Great Lakes," tweeted Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, chair of the Senate Homeland Security committee. "I'm glad the object was neutralized over Lake Huron and I'll continue pressing (DOD) for transparency."

In light of the Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. shot down last week, officials have been more closely scrutinizing airspace at high altitudes including enhancing radar, "which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we've detected over the past week," said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton.

"We also know that a range of entities, including countries, companies, resource organizations, operate objects at these altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate research," Dalton told reporters on a call Sunday night. "That said, because we have not yet been able to definitively assess what these recent objects are, we have acted out of an abundance of caution to protect our security and interests."

Unlike the Chinese surveillance balloon, Pentagon officials refused to categorize the object shot down Sunday over Lake Huron on Sunday as a balloon. VanHerck, the NORAD commander, declined Sunday night to share the shape of the airborne object but said it's much smaller than the Chinese balloon. They don't know what its propulsion system is.

"We're calling them objects for a reason," VanHerck said. "I'm not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure, or it could be some type of propulsion system. But clearly, they're able to stay aloft."

He also declined to attribute the unidentified object to any country. "We don't know. That's why it's so critical to get our hands on these so that we can further assess and analyze what they are," VanHerck said.

When asked by a reporter whether the Pentagon had ruled out aliens or extraterrestrials, VanHerck said no.

"I haven't ruled out anything at this point," he replied. "We continue to assess every threat or potential threat unknown that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it."

VanHerck stressed the military has taken "extreme caution" with the shootdowns to limit collateral damage and on Sunday worked with the Federal Aviation Administration to first clear the airspace. He also gave the direction specifically to the pilots to watch for mariners below and for other aircraft in the area.

VanHerck said they’re not currently tracking any other objects, but he believed the recent shootdowns were the first time within U.S. airspace that NORAD or U.S. Northern Command had taken “kinetic action” against an airborne object.

The incident prompted U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, to call the shootdown over Lake Huron disquieting.

“The increasing incidents of unidentified objects, the latest over Lake Huron in Michigan airspace, are disturbing," Dingell said in a statement. "We need the facts about where they are originating from, what their purpose is, and why their frequency is increasing. Our national security is of the utmost importance, and we must work in a bipartisan way with this administration and all relevant partners for answers and the appropriate reaction."

U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, earlier Sunday said "the American people deserve far more answers than we have" as he described the incident as the U.S. military having "decommissioned another 'object' over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the object was "swiftly, safely and securely taken down."

"Our national security and safety is always a top priority," Whitmer tweeted. "I’ve been in contact with the federal government and our partners who were tracking an object near our airspace."

Earlier Sunday, airspace over part of another Great Lake, Lake Michigan, was briefly closed for national defense purposes. NORAD said that with the cooperation of the FAA, a temporary flight restriction began at about noon Sunday "to ensure the safety of air traffic in the area." A tweet, posted at 1:44 p.m., announced the restriction had been lifted.

It wasn't immediately clear if the airspace closure was related to the shootdown over Lake Huron.

The FAA told pilots the airspace was classified as national defense airspace, instructed them to avoid the area and leave immediately if already in it, warning them of possible administrative and criminal actions if the directive was not followed.

U.S. Rep Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, said Sunday that "we’re all interested in exactly what this object was and its purpose."

"As long as these things keep traversing the US and Canada, I’ll continue to ask for Congress to get a full briefing based on our exploitation of the wreckage," she tweeted Sunday. "We’ll know more about what this was in the coming days, but for now, be assured that all parties have been laser-focused on it from the moment it traversed our waters."

The downing of the object in Lake Huron comes after objects in Alaska and Canada had been shot out of the sky in recent days because they were flying at altitudes that posed a threat to commercial aircraft, according to the officials, who had knowledge of the downings and spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operations.

A flying object brought down over the remote northern coast of Alaska on Friday was more cylindrical and described as a type of airship. Another object shot down Saturday over the Yukon was described by U.S. officials as a balloon significantly smaller than the suspected Chinese balloon the size of three school buses hit by a missile Feb. 4 while drifting off the South Carolina coast after traversing the country.

The Alaskan and Canadian objects were believed to have a payload, either attached or suspended from them, according to the officials who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. Officials were not able to say who launched the objects and were seeking to figure out their origin.

U.S. officials said those two objects were much smaller in size, different in appearance and flew at lower altitudes than the suspected Chinese spy balloon that fell into the Atlantic Ocean after the U.S. missile strike. They said the Alaska and Canada objects were not consistent with the fleet of Chinese aerial surveillance balloons that targeted more than 40 countries, stretching back at least into the Trump administration.

On Sunday afternoon, Michigan GOP political consultant John Yob and his wife were sitting on the deck of their cottage on the state's Old Mission Peninsula outside of Traverse City. He said he had just read about the airspace being shut down, when the couple heard "sonic booms" above them.

“It was surreal — like we were in a movie — sitting on our deck on Old Mission Peninsula reading about Lake Michigan airspace being shut down and suddenly hearing jets break the sound barrier flying very fast above us,” he said. "My wife said, 'Oh my God. They are right above us.'"

It was around 1:30 p.m. when they heard the sounds, and Yob said he assumed that American military jets were above them due to the airspace having shut down. But they didn't know for another 90 minutes that an object had been shot down.

"I feel like these are crazy times we are living in," Yob said, "and there's probably more to the story than what our government and others governments are currently giving us."

U.S. Rep. John James, R-Farmington Hills, said the episode highlighted the utility of having Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, which is in his district.

“There is no longer a question: America must have air defense in Michigan before it’s too late,” James said.

mburke@detroitnews.com

kkozlowski@detroitnews.com

Associated Press contributed.