U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck would not rule out the possibility that the three recent objects shot down over North American airspace were extraterrestrial, telling reporters the military does not currently know what they are or how they stay afloat.
When asked about that possibility, the head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command said he will “let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out.”
Things just got weirder. The Pentagon was asked if they can rule out extraterrestrial activity as a source of the objects they shot down. Air Force General Glen D VanHerck answered "I haven’t ruled out anything at this point." What do you think about this? pic.twitter.com/0cEgbUqW0n
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) February 13, 2023
On Friday, US fighter jets took down an object off northern Alaska. On Saturday, the U.S. military, acting in partnership with Canada, downed another object over the central Yukon territory, which was about 100 miles from the U.S. border, and on Sunday, U.S. warplanes took out an object over Lake Huron in Michigan.
VanHerck was clear the objects were not balloons, similar to the recent Chinese spy balloon the U.S. military shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
“I’m not going to categorize them as balloons. We’re calling them objects for a reason,” VanHerck said. “I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some type of a propulsion system. But clearly, they’re — they’re able to stay aloft.”
An unnamed defense official later told Reuters, however, that the military did not see "any evidence that the objects were extraterrestrial."
VanHerck said the military assessed whether the objects could be taken out by gunfire to better preserve them.
“We assessed taking a gunshot yesterday in that event, as well as today, and the pilots in each situation felt that that was really unachievable because of the size, especially yesterday in the altitude and also because of the challenge to acquire it visually because it’s so small,” VanHerck said.
“We have taken extreme caution to ensure that we limit potential collateral damage, so today, we worked closely with the FAA to clear out the airspace,” he added. “I gave direction specifically to the pilots to use their visual acuity to check for mariners on the ground, airplanes in the air to clear with their radars as well. And when they were comfortable, that we can minimize collateral damage, they selected the best weapon today that was the AIM 9x (missile). And they took the shot.”
VanHerck also said it's unknown at this time where the objects originated from.
“I would be hesitant and urge you not to attribute it to any specific country. We don't know,” he noted.