UFOs

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Merlin

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How do you know it was Grays. Racist.
 

Q729

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US shoots down 'high-altitude object' over Alaska​


Sebastian Smith
Fri, February 10, 2023 at 3:26 PM EST

A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska on Friday, the White House said, just six days after the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon sparked a fresh diplomatic rift with Beijing.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear what the purpose or origin of the new object was, but said that it was taken down because, floating at 40,000 feet, it was a threat to civil aviation.

"The president ordered the military to down the object," Kirby said.

The object was much smaller than a huge Chinese balloon that crossed the United States last week and was shot down by a US fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday, Kirby said.

It was "roughly the size of a small car," he said.

"We do not know who owns it, whether state owned or corporate owned," he said. "We don't understand the full purpose."

The incident took place amid a new alarm over what US officials say is an ongoing program by China to fly surveillance balloons to collect intelligence around the world.

US officials said such balloons have flown over 40 countries, including at least four times previously over United States territory.

The Chinese balloon last week sparked particular concern as it overflew areas where the United States keeps nuclear missiles in underground silos and bases strategic bombers.

The incident led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel an imminent trip to Beijing that had been long in planning and aimed at improving communications between the two rival superpowers.

- 'Reasonable threat' -

Kirby said the new object was detected late Thursday, and shot down Friday afternoon Washington-time.

It went down in northern Alaska near the Canadian border and fell over a frozen body of water, making recovery feasible, Kirby said.

"We do expect to be able to recover the debris," he said.

Biden ordered the shoot-down because, at the altitude it was flying, the object posed "a reasonable threat" to civil aviation.

He said that the US military sent a plane to observe the object before it was taken down and "the pilot's assessment was that this was not manned."

The Chinese surveillance balloon had clear abilities to propel and maneuver itself, he noted.

It "was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons," a senior State Department official said Thursday.

"It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications," the official.

The official also tied the balloon to China's People's Liberation Army, without saying directly that it had been deployed by the PLA.

Beijing rejected US allegations that it sent the balloon to spy on the United States, and said it had simply drifted by accident into US airspace.

But since Saturday China has rejected and overture by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak by phone about the issue.

"The US insisted on using force to attack the airship, which seriously violated international practice and sets a bad precedent," the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement.
 

norcalramfan

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I’m not sure if this is accurate but interesting if true.
664AE350-BD4F-468D-908C-B56C8470E0BA.jpeg
 

snackdaddy

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Charlie

US shoots down 'high-altitude object' over Alaska​


Sebastian Smith
Fri, February 10, 2023 at 3:26 PM EST

A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska on Friday, the White House said, just six days after the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon sparked a fresh diplomatic rift with Beijing.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear what the purpose or origin of the new object was, but said that it was taken down because, floating at 40,000 feet, it was a threat to civil aviation.

"The president ordered the military to down the object," Kirby said.

The object was much smaller than a huge Chinese balloon that crossed the United States last week and was shot down by a US fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday, Kirby said.

It was "roughly the size of a small car," he said.

"We do not know who owns it, whether state owned or corporate owned," he said. "We don't understand the full purpose."

The incident took place amid a new alarm over what US officials say is an ongoing program by China to fly surveillance balloons to collect intelligence around the world.

US officials said such balloons have flown over 40 countries, including at least four times previously over United States territory.

The Chinese balloon last week sparked particular concern as it overflew areas where the United States keeps nuclear missiles in underground silos and bases strategic bombers.

The incident led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel an imminent trip to Beijing that had been long in planning and aimed at improving communications between the two rival superpowers.

- 'Reasonable threat' -

Kirby said the new object was detected late Thursday, and shot down Friday afternoon Washington-time.

It went down in northern Alaska near the Canadian border and fell over a frozen body of water, making recovery feasible, Kirby said.

"We do expect to be able to recover the debris," he said.

Biden ordered the shoot-down because, at the altitude it was flying, the object posed "a reasonable threat" to civil aviation.

He said that the US military sent a plane to observe the object before it was taken down and "the pilot's assessment was that this was not manned."

The Chinese surveillance balloon had clear abilities to propel and maneuver itself, he noted.

It "was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons," a senior State Department official said Thursday.

"It had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications," the official.

The official also tied the balloon to China's People's Liberation Army, without saying directly that it had been deployed by the PLA.

Beijing rejected US allegations that it sent the balloon to spy on the United States, and said it had simply drifted by accident into US airspace.

But since Saturday China has rejected and overture by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak by phone about the issue.

"The US insisted on using force to attack the airship, which seriously violated international practice and sets a bad precedent," the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement.
I believe it was Kirby that a reporter asked if it had extraterrestrial origins. He said at this point they weren't ruling anything out.
 

Q729

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I believe it was Kirby that a reporter asked if it had extraterrestrial origins. He said at this point they weren't ruling anything out.

Americans Don’t ‘Need to Worry about Aliens,’ White House Says After Shooting Down Three Unidentified Objects​


Brittany Bernstein

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday dismissed concerns that a string of unidentified airborne objects shot down by the U.S. in recent days are related to aliens or extraterrestrial activity.

“I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens with respect to these craft,” Kirby said during a press briefing on Monday. “I don’t think there’s any more that needs to be said there.”

Kirby’s comments come one day after a top U.S. general said he hadn’t ruled anything out when asked specifically about the possibility of aliens as it relates to three objects shot down over the weekend.

Kirby said Monday the military is not tracking any other airborne objects, and he said no one has claimed ownership for the three objects shot down since Friday.

President Joe Biden ordered the downing of the object near Lake Huron on Sunday, one day after a a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down a separate unidentified cylindrical object over the Yukon Territory in Canada. Also on Saturday, a part of Montana’s airspace was temporarily closed due to a “radar anomaly,” then later reopened. North American air defense could not find an object correlated with the anomaly.

On Friday, the White House announced that a “high-altitude airborne object” was shot down off the northern coast of Alaska.

The incidents come after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the Carolina coast one week ago.

“I think we can all get our heads around the fact that there are sometimes things floating at high altitudes for various purposes, as I said, scientific research, weather balloons all manner of innocuous craft can be aloft at high altitudes,” Kirby said when asked if more objects than usual are flying or if the U.S. has just begun looking at the objects differently. “I don’t think thats necessarily unusual here. It’s difficult for me to say exactly what you can expect going forward.”

He added, “One of the reasons that we think we’re seeing more is because we’re looking for more.”

Kirby said the U.S. has modified the filters of its radar capabilities to “look more discreetly at high altitude, small radar cross section and low speed objects.”

Asked about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments that there is “some sort of pattern” to the objects of the last few days, Kirby said only that the objects “were not being maneuvered” and did not appear to have any self-propulsion.

It is likely that the prevailing winds created a general common movement among the objects, he said.

Kirby said there is a “big difference” between the Chinese spy balloon and the other unidentified objects. The Chinese spy balloon was much larger and was flying at or above 60,000 feet, well outside of air traffic concerns, while the other three objects were “right on the border” and appeared to be driven by the wind and therefore posed a danger to air traffic.

“We don’t know for sure whether they had a surveillance aspect to them, but we can’t rule it out,” Kirby said of the three unidentified objects, adding that there was “enough uncertainty” that out of an abundance of caution, President Biden decided it was best to down the objects.

Kirby denied claims by the Chinese Foreign Ministry that the U.S. has illegally flown at least ten high-altitude balloons into its airspace since January 2022. There is “no U.S. surveillance air craft in Chinese air space,” he said.
 

Corbin

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Alien weirdos be like…

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