Getty This July 28, 2008 photo shows the Round Island Light(L) (1895, automated in 1924, deactivated from 1947-1996) and the Round Island Passage light in the shipping lanes of the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Round Island Passage light and Round Island light are only about 600 meters apart.
An unidentified object was shot down over Lake Huron on February 12, 2023, according to a Michigan congresswoman.
“Just got a call from @DeptofDefense — our military has an extremely close eye on the object above Lake Huron. 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,” U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin of Michigan tweeted.
She later tweeted: “The object has been downed by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard. Great work by all who carried out this mission both in the air and back at headquarters. We’re all interested in exactly what this object was and it’s purpose.”
Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz tweeted that the plane that shot down the object took off from Madison, Wisconsin.
“I’m proud of the airmen in the @148FW, based out of Duluth, who earlier today took off from Madison, WI to shoot down a flying object over Lake Huron as part of a federal mission. The Bulldogs executed their mission flawlessly, protected the homeland, and got the birds home safe,” he wrote.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Lake Huron Object Was the Third Unidentified Object Shot Down by the United States Since Friday, February 10, 2023
Just got a call from @DeptofDefense — our military has an extremely close eye on the object above Lake Huron. 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 Lake Huron object was the third unidentified object shot down by the United States since Friday. The other two objects were shot down off the coast of Alaska and over Canadian airspace, according to a White House spokesman and tweet from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Associated Press reported on February 12, 2023, that authorities are still trying to determine what the other objects were and who was responsible for them. They come about a week after the United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
Slotkin also tweeted, “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.”
Earlier, she wrote, “Just got a call from @DeptofDefense — our military has an extremely close eye on the object above Lake Huron. 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.”
Authorities Briefly Closed Airspace Over Lake Michigan Sunday & Havre, Montana, on Saturday
Statement from NORAD & U.S. Northern Command
According to the AP, federal aviation authorities briefly shut down airspace over Lake Michigan on Sunday.
On Saturday, they briefly shut down and then reopened airspace over Havre, Montana, with the U.S. government later attributing it to a radar anomaly, although a congressman said it was due to another unidentified object.
A White House spokesman and Pentagon official said in Friday news conferences that the government is not sure what the object shot down Friday near Alaska was, describing it as the size of a small car, lacking maneuverability, and smaller than the Chinese surveillance balloon.
According to ABC News, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the objects shot down on Friday and Saturday were smaller balloons, but the government has not confirmed that information.
An unidentified official told ABC News that the U.S. government has improved its surveillance techniques and might simply be spotting more objects or balloons, especially since the national attention given to the Chinese surveillance balloon, which made its way across the United States before being shot down over U.S. territorial waters.
READ NEXT: See Videos of the Chinese Spy Balloon Being Shot Down.