Three of the objects are clearly smaller than the Chinese ball dropped a week ago. It has also been speculated that it could be possible extraterrestrial entities, but this has not been confirmed.
11:14•Updated 11:45
An unidentified flying object was shot down over the Great Lakes on the border of the United States and Canada on Sunday evening Finnish time. The target was already the fourth target to be extinguished after the Chinese large ball was dropped over South Carolina a week ago.
In this article, we briefly compiled what objects have now been made public.
“We don’t rule out any possibility”
Commander of the United States Air Force Northern Region, Gen Glen Van Herck answered reporters’ questions on the subject late on Sunday.
Van Herck was also asked about the possibility that it was “aliens”.
– Since you haven’t been able to tell what these extinguished things are, have you ruled out the possibility that they are “aliens” [eli mahdollisen maapallon ulkopuolisen sivilisaation edustajat]? the reporter asked.
Van Herck replied that he has not ruled out any possibility.
However, another American official estimated to the Reuters news agency anonymously later that the defense forces have no observations that these are extraterrestrial targets.
Jack Schumer: All objects are probably ‘balls’
Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Democrats Jack Schumer has estimated that the objects are also likely to be balls, like the first dropped Chinese balloon. However, the other objects are clearly smaller than the first one.
Parts of the first dropped ball have been recovered from the sea, and the FBI continues to investigate it. Another dropped object is being searched in the sea off Alaska. The third is currently being searched for in the Yukon, Canada.
According to a US State Department source, the company that manufactured the Chinese balloon has direct connections to the Chinese military. The ball is suspected of being used for espionage or to test the US’s ability to react.
After the Chinese ball was dropped, surveillance was increased
According to the U.S. Defense Forces, airspace surveillance was increased after a large ball identified as Chinese was spotted in the country’s airspace in late January. Representative of the Defense Administration by Melissa Dalton according to, increased observation can at least partly explain the finding of several targets.
According to the Washington Post magazine, the data provided by researchers has begun to be examined more closely than before.
Until now, vague objects that were not believed to be relevant for air surveillance have been automatically removed from the information provided by the researchers. When all the observations are investigated in more detail, small balloons that would have gone unnoticed before can be caught, among other things.
Have you reacted too strongly?
According to the authorities, the extinguished targets have not been a major risk to national security. The shooting down on Sunday evening was justified by the fact that the object posed a danger to civilian traffic, as the object was flying at an altitude of about six kilometers.
According to the US Defense Forces, none of the four targets appeared to be armed or appeared to be about to attack.
Beijing Claims: Multiple US Balls Spotted in Chinese Airspace
On Monday, China said that high-flying balloons have been detected in its airspace ten times over the course of a year. According to China, the balls are from the United States. Relations between the two countries have tightened recently.
Only one of the sites has been officially linked to China so far
One of the objects was shot down over Canada on Saturday. Before that, one was shot down in the United States in Alaska on Friday and in South Carolina last Saturday. The objects have been shot down by American fighters.
So far, only the balloon that went down in South Carolina has been confirmed as belonging to China. However, China claims that it was an aircraft that was in “civilian use”.
Sources: AP, AFP, Reuters