WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2023) The US Department of Defense (DOD) has confirmed that an airborne object has been shot down over Lake Huron in the US state of Michigan, at the direction of US President Joe Biden, because it presented a threat due to potential surveillance capabilities.
"Today at 2:42 p.m., at the direction of President Biden, and based on the recommendations of (US Defense) Secretary (Lloyd) Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation," the Pentagon said in a Sunday statement.
According to the release, no civilians were affected. The object was tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) starting from Sunday morning.
"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. We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities. Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more," the Pentagon said.
