The Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration spotted a balloon over Hawaii last week but decided against shooting it down.
“Applying newly-established parameters for monitoring U.S. airspace, the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) detected and observed April 28th an unmanned, balloon off the coast of Hawaii, floating at approximately 36,000 feet,” a DOD spokesperson said in a statement.
“Ownership of the balloon is unknown, but there is no indication that it was maneuvering or being controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor,” the statement continued. “The balloon did not transit directly over defense critical infrastructure or other U.S. Government sensitive sites, nor did it pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”
The Secretary of Defense therefore agreed that no action needed to be taken against the balloon, which has now left Hawaii’s airspace.
The incident comes after a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S. earlier this year, hovering over sensitive military sites, before finally getting shot down off the East Coast.
Three more unidentified objects were later shot down over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canada, though they were likely inexpensive research balloons.
Biden says we still don't know what the "objects" are but that they aren't tied to China. Instead likely belong to private companies for scientific research.
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 16, 2023
Biden used $400,000 missiles to shoot down weather balloons after allowing Chinese spy balloon to travel the country.
Amid reports one of the "objects" Biden shot down was a $12 hobby balloon, top Biden spokesperson John Kirby says "we may never know completely." pic.twitter.com/UchNrvnik3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 19, 2023