US military shoots down high-altitude object near Lake Huron on Sunday

CNN

By Oren Liebermann, Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Arlette Saenz and Phil Mattingly, CNN

The US military shot down another high-altitude object near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, according to a US official and a congressional source briefed on the matter.

A second US official said the takedown of the unidentified object was “at the direction” of President Joe Biden.

The operation marks the third day in a row that an unidentified object was shot down over North American airspace. An unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada on Saturday. On Friday, an unidentified object was shot down in Alaska airspace by a US F-22.

And last weekend, a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said Sunday that the operation to down the object over Lake Huron was carried out by pilots from the US Air Force and the 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,” she said in a tweet.

CNN initially reported that the object was shot down over Lake Huron based on what sources said to CNN and a public tweet by Republican Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she’s been in contact with the federal government after the takedown.

“Our national security and safety is always a top priority. I’ve been in contact with the federal government and our partners who were tracking an object near our airspace. I’m glad to report it has been swiftly, safely, and securely taken down,” the Democrat tweeted. “The @MINationalGuard stands ready.”

The object was flying at 20,000 feet over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and was about to go over Lake Huron when it was neutralized, a senior administration official told CNN on Sunday.

The object was “octagonal” with strings hanging off and no discernable payload, according to the official and another source briefed on the matter. While the US has no indication that the object had surveillance capabilities, that has not been ruled out yet.

The object was first detected by NORAD and NORTHCOM over Montana on Saturday night and fighter aircraft were sent to investigate, the senior administration official said. At the time, those planes did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits, which led NORAD and NORTHCOM to believe it was an anomaly.

But on Sunday, defense officials reacquired the radar contact and detected the object flying over Wisconsin and then Michigan. The path of the object and its altitude raised concerns that it could pose a threat to civilian aircraft, but it did not pose a military threat to anyone on the ground, the official said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Hannah Sarisohn, Haley Britzky, Aaron Pellish, and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.