What are the flying objects that US is shooting down? Why are they suddenly popping up in American airspace?

If the past week is any indicator there are several flying objects buzzing in the American skies. In the past eight days, there have been four different instances of flying objects — in one case, the United States confirmed that it was a spy balloon — that have been spotted and shot down by the Americans. The most recent incident was on Sunday when an F-16 brought down a flying object that was seen at about 20,000 feet over Lake Huron off Michigan. The episodes have captured the attention of the public, who have long been fascinated by encounters with flying objects. In fact, when asked if the flying objects were indeed aliens , General Glen VanHerck, chief of North American Aerospace Defense Command, had said that “he didn’t rule out anything”. We can now confirm that they weren’t aliens, as White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back on the theory. “I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no — again, no — indication of aliens or extra-terrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” she said. But, what exactly were these objects? Why are so many being spotted now? We connect the dots and bring you the full picture. Aliens, spy balloons or…. The first incident of a flying object in American skies in recent times dates back to January. The US detected a 60 metre-tall Chinese balloon as it entered national airspace near the Aleutian Islands. Described as a surveillance balloon, it drifted over Alaska and into Canada before re-entering US airspace over Idaho. The balloon was flying at about 60,000 feet and had a gondola the size of three buses that weighed more than a tonne. It was equipped with multiple antennas and solar panels large enough to power several intelligence-gathering sensors. It was finally shot down by an F-22 on 4 February. The incident led to Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelling his trip to China . [caption id=“attachment_12150152” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Graphic: Pranay Bhardwaj[/caption] The next incident took place on 10 February when US fighter jets took down another object over Alaska. According to White House officials, this object was the “size of a small car” and not similar to the Chinese balloon shot off the coast of South Carolina. A third mystery object was shot down on 11 February in Canada’s Yukon territory, close to the US border. According to a Pentagon memo, this unidentified flying object appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it”. The fourth incident of a flying object being taken down was on 12 February over Lake Huron in Michigan. Officials said that the object had an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but had no visible payload. It was deemed to be a military threat to anything on the ground, but could have posed a hazard to civil aviation because it was flying at about 20,000 feet (6,000 metres), officials said. But what was the purpose of these flying objects? On Monday, at a press briefing White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that while they had no “specific reason” to suspect that the objects were carrying out surveillance, they couldn’t rule it out either. He was quoted as saying, “We assessed whether they posed any kinetic threat to people on the ground; they did not.” “We assessed whether they were sending any communication signals; we detected none,” he said. “We looked to see whether they were manoeuvering or had any propulsion capabilities; we saw no signs of that. “And we made sure to determine whether or not they were manned; they were not.” So many objects though According to US officials, the number of flying objects been spotted and taken down is unprecedented. Some believe that these objects are a part of a ‘fleet’ operative over five continents. Others believe that China may be ramping up surveillance ahead of a future war with Taiwan. For some analysts, there’s a simple explanation for the apparent uptick in intrusions in American skies: the US military has changed the way they look for them. As The Atlantic puts it, the US is finding more things in the sky because it is looking for more things. The scope and quality of the surveillance of American skies have increased. According to a CNN report, the US intelligence community’s method to track China’s fleet of surveillance was only discovered within the last year. This has allowed the US to develop a consistent technical method to track balloons and other flying objects in near-real time across the globe. What this means is that the objects in the air aren’t new, but America’s ability to track them is. [caption id=“attachment_12150132” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby take questions during the press briefing at the White House. Kirby discussed the recent flying objects shot down by US military jets over North America. AFP[/caption] General Vanherck also explained that NORAD had started searching for much smaller, slower-moving flying objects, while also making adjustments to filtration based on altitude. Initially, NORAD’s radar detection was searching for fighter jets or bombers, which move at high speeds. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, Melissa Dalton also added, “In light of the People’s Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday, we have been more closely scrutinising our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we detected over the past week.” Secondly, American standards to shooting objects in the skies has reduced. Sample this: The spy balloon was first detected in US airspace on 28 January, but shot down only on 4 February. However, the other flying objects have been shot down almost immediately after they were spotted. The Chinese balloon has made US officials more willing to act, even knowing that many such cases could be false positives. However, when Kirby was asked about if the Biden administration had a new policy on when to shoot down unidentified aerial objects, he deflected and said, “I think we just don’t know right now, in terms of whether there needs to be threshold changes.” China-US ties worsen The incident of the spy balloon has exacerbated already fraught ties between the US and China. Both sides are trading charges, with Beijing, on Monday, telling reporters that Washington had “illegally flown high-altitude balloons over China’s airspace” more than 10 times since last year. Beijing’s claim drew a swift denial from Washington. Luis Elizondo, the former head of the Pentagon’s UFO programme, told the New York Times the string of incursions were “low-end technology” being used to “harass” America. “It is a high impact, low-cost way for China to do this, and the more you look up in the sky, the more you will see,” he said. It still remains unclear if the US is facing a new threat or is it just waking up to an old one that they have just discovered. The answer lies in the future. After all, the truth is out there. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.