US fighter jet F-16 shoots down another mysterious flying object over Michigan State, third in 3 days

On Friday, a US fighter shot down an unidentified object over Alaska and another over North-western Canada on Saturday as part of a joint US-Canadian operation. The US and Canada operate a joint air-defence command called the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

A US fighter plane has shot down another unidentified flying object over Lake Huron in Michigan state, in the third such incident in the past three days.

On Friday, a US fighter shot down an unidentified object over Alaska and another over North-western Canada on Saturday as part of a joint US-Canadian operation. The US and Canada operate a joint air-defence command called the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

On Sunday, the US Department of Defense (DoD) said the latest downed object is likely the same object that NORAD had spotted over Montana on Saturday. 

In a statement, the DoD said, "Based on its flight path and data we can reasonably connect this object to the radar signal picked up over Montana, which flew in proximity to sensitive DOD sites. We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities."

It further said that President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation and he ordered the latest shoot-down. 

"Today at 2:42 p.m. ET, at the direction of President Biden, and based on the recommendations of Secretary Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in US airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation," the DoD said.

It also said that the location of shootdown reduced the chances of any collateral damage and increased the chances of recovering the remains.