(WWJ) Top military officials provided an update Sunday night after a U.S. fighter jet shot down an "unidentified object" over Lake Huron just east of Michigan's Upper Peninsula earlier in the day.
This is now the fourth object downed in just 8 days with the Pentagon telling the Associated Press that there is no peacetime precedent for this "extraordinary chain of events over U.S. airspace."
Head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command General Glen VanHerck shared that part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a "heightened alert" after the spy balloon from China traced a path over the country in late January.
But what exactly is the military on alert for? Four aerial objects have been taken out of commission, but only the Chinese spy balloon has been formally identified.
"Have you ruled out aliens or extra terrestrials?" an unnamed reporter asked Gen. VanHerck during Sunday night's press briefing.
VanHerck replied that he will leave the job of investigating the object to the intelligence and counter intelligence communities but did not dismiss the possibility of alien life outright.
"I haven't ruled out anything at this point. We continue to assess every potential threat... that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it."
While that may be the case, one U.S. defense official quoted by NBC News said there is "no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent take downs."
Asked why missile was used to decommission the object instead of a lower-scale weapon, VanHerck said that, given the altitude, the smaller object was difficult to see.
"We assessed taking a gunshot... and the pilots in each situation felt that that was really unachievable because of the size."
Finally, the General confirmed the path of the object, which he said they tracked across Northern Michigan.
"We were cleared to engage the target in [the] eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, over land, and ultimately downed the object... about 15 nautical miles east of the Upper Peninsula in Lake Huron."
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, HON. Melissa Dalton was also part of the briefing and said the object was not considered a direct military threat but that it was flying close to "sensitive" Department of Defense sites and was also a risk to civilian planes in the airspace.
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