White House defends shooting down three aerial objects, despite not knowing who launched them or why

WASHINGTON — The White House connected Monday defended its determination to sprout down 3 low-flying, aerial objects implicit U.S. and Canadian airspace successful the past 3 days, but said it had not determined yet precisely what the objects were, who owned them oregon what they were doing.

Each of the 3 crafts was the size of a tiny car, and was detected floating connected prevailing winds.

"We person not yet been capable to definitively measure what these astir caller objects are," John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said astatine a White House briefing.

"And portion we person nary circumstantial crushed to fishy that they were conducting surveillance of immoderate kind, we couldn't regularisation that out," helium added.

The archetypal of the 3 crafts was destroyed connected Friday successful U.S. airspace implicit Alaskan waters. It was cylindrical, the size of a tiny car and had been floating astatine astir 40,000 feet successful altitude, Kirby said, posing a menace to civilian aircraft.

On Saturday, the U.S. and Canada coordinated the usage of American subject jets to sprout down a 2nd object, this clip overland successful the distant Canadian Yukon.

That trade was akin successful size, signifier and formation altitude to the 1 that was destroyed Friday, Kirby said.

The 3rd entity was besides the size of a car, but it was octagonal and was flying lower, astatine astir 20,000 feet. That entity was changeable down Sunday implicit Lake Huron, connected the U.S.-Canadian border.

Kirby said the crisp summation successful the fig of objects changeable down successful caller days was partially a effect of heightened radar sensitivity, implemented successful the aftermath of the find of a monolithic Chinese spy balloon successful precocious January.

That balloon was 200 feet precocious and carried a payload of surveillance equipment. Defense officials opted to fto it interval implicit the continental U.S. for a week, earlier shooting it down Feb, 4 supra the waters disconnected South Carolina.

"One of the reasons we're seeing more, is due to the fact that we're looking for more," Kirby said Monday, taking pains not to telephone the 3 latest floating objects "balloons."

"We request to abstracted [the 3 caller objects] from the Chinese spy balloon," helium said. In the spy balloon situation, "we knew what it was, we knew wherever it was going, we knew what it was doing." This clip around, determination are much questions, helium said.

The effort to salvage debris from these latest incidents is being hindered truthful far, said Kirby, by terrain and freezing temperatures connected some onshore and successful the heavy waters of Lake Huron and the Arctic Ocean.

"We cognize that [Chinese] surveillance balloons person crossed implicit dozens of countries connected aggregate continents astir the world, including immoderate of our closest allies and partners," said Kirby.

"We besides cognize that a scope of entities, including countries, companies, probe and world organizations run objects astatine these altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious astatine all, including technological research," helium said.