Several unidentified flying objects have been shot down by the US military in recent times, and so far there has been no explanation.
At least one high-ranking official wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he might be of extraterrestrial origin.
“I will let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure it out,” General Glen VanHerck, Commander of NORAD, told reporters there when asked about the possibility of aliens. “I haven’t ruled anything out at this point.”
A suspected Chinese spy balloon hit the country when it was discovered in Montana in January and was finally shot down when it reached the Atlantic earlier this month.
Since then, at least three other objects have been blown out of the sky. One was first described as a balloon, but VanHerck hedged when asked if this additional object was also a balloon.
“I wouldn’t classify it as a balloon. We call it an ‘object’ for a reason,” he said. “It must have been an event off the coast of South Carolina for a Chinese spy balloon, which is clearly a balloon. This is an object.
He also said he wasn’t sure how the object flew.
“It could be some kind of gas balloon inside the structure, or it could be some kind of propulsion system,” he said.
One of the objects, shot on Friday over Alaska, was described as “cylindrical and silverish gray“and with”there is no discernible propulsion system.” Another, shot over the US-Canada border, was described as a “small cylindrical object.” The third, taken down there over Lake Huron, was described by officials as an “octagonal structure” with strings.
“We will remain vigilant about our airspace.” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday. “We will remain vigilant about the skies of the United States.”
It has not been clear for years if the objects shot down have anything to do with the number of sightings the Pentagon now calls “unidentified aerial phenomena,” its preferred term for UFOs.
Last year, an American Airlines pilot reported a “long cylindrical object” in the sky over New Mexico, and several US Navy pilots have described and attempted to track fast-moving objects, including some “with no discernible means of propulsion.”