After a Chinese spy balloon was seen, the US Air Force has been using missiles to shoot down balloons in and around their airspace.
When a missile is used to shoot down one of these balloons, it costs $400,000 each time it is fired.
Since you’re putting that much money into each missile, you’d better hope they hit what they’re aiming at, and you definitely want them pointed at the right place.
On February 4, an object thought to be a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean. Since then, a number of other unidentified flying objects, including one in Canadian airspace, have been targeted and destroyed.
But it’s possible that some of these were just regular balloons and not ones sent by the Chinese government to spy on the US.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said earlier this week that they “haven’t seen anything that specifically points” to China being behind the three other objects that were shot down.
After the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) said one of theirs was missing, it’s possible that one of them is just a simple hobby balloon that can be bought for as little as $12.
They haven’t made a formal accusation, but the last time their silver-coated “pico balloon” reported its location, it was off the coast of Alaska on February 10. The next day, it was probably over the Yukon Territory.
The next day, a US Air Force fighter jet (an F-22, if you’re curious) shot down a UFO in the same area, so it’s not hard to think that the USAF might have accidentally blown up the hobbyist’s balloon.
Before it was lost, the balloon had been in the air for 123 days and had gone around the Earth six times.
This could have been the flying object that was shot down in Canadian airspace. If so, the hobby club may need a new balloon and a quiet note of apology.
The first flying thing that was shot down a few weeks ago was definitely a “high-altitude surveillance balloon,” according to the government.
It was spotted flying over some sensitive military sites in the US, and a $400,000 Sidewinder missile shot it down over the Atlantic.
Oddly enough, the USAF doesn’t rule out the possibility that some of these things come from aliens. If that’s the case, and aliens decide to take over Earth because we shot down their stuff, we’d like to remind them that they need to be more specific about who they blame.
China says that the first balloon was a weather balloon that got blown off course by the wind, not a spy device.
