JUST GREAT!: Mike Turner Warns ‘we don’t really have adequate radar system’ After Incidents with Flying Objects; U.S. Military Shoots Down Fourth High-Altitude Object Over North America, and related stories
Mike Turner warns ‘we don’t really have adequate radar system’ after incidents with flying objects:
House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-OH) issued a warning that the United States doesn’t have “adequate radar” amid a series of incursions in U.S. airspace in recent weeks.
“We don’t really have adequate radar system, and we certainly don’t have an integrated missile defense system. We’re going to have to begin to look at the United States airspace as one that we need to defend,” Turner told CNN’s State of the Union. “This shows some of the problems and gaps that we have.”
Since the suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the mainland United States for a few days until it was shot down on Feb. 4, a chorus of lawmakers has urged the Defense Department to beef up its radar systems.
There have been multiple aeronautical anomalies in the time since. On Saturday, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Canadian airspace. The shooting followed another unidentified cylindrical object Friday, in which pilots struggled to identify a propulsion system.
“They do appear somewhat trigger-happy, although this is certainly preferable to the permissive environment that they showed when the Chinese spy balloon was coming over to our most sensitive sites,” Turned said.
On Saturday, the military locked down Montana airspace amid a string of military activity and potential sightings of questionable objects in the air that was later blamed on a radar anomaly.
Turner indicated that he was not briefed on some of the latest developments, which he described as “particularly annoying,” asserting “there needs to be more engagement within the administration and Congress.” —>READ MORE HERE
WSJ: U.S. Military Shoots Down Fourth High-Altitude Object Over North America:
Action comes amid stepped-up defense of airspace, closer examination of raw radar data
The U.S. shot down a fourth flying object Sunday afternoon at 20,000 feet above Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, underscoring heightened concerns over North American airspace after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was found traversing the U.S.
An F-16 jet fighter shot down the object on orders of President Biden at 2:42 p.m., the Pentagon said, using the same kind of missile used in the previous three shootdowns, an AIM-9X Sidewinder.
The U.S. wasn’t tracking other objects as of Sunday night, said Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said at a news conference late Sunday.
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the object, which was shot down over Michigan but appeared to land in Canadian waters, officials said.
Pentagon officials said none of the objects shot down appeared to pose a military threat, but that officials couldn’t rule out additional takedowns of unidentified objects in U.S. airspace.
The U.S. shot down the object out of “an abundance of caution,” Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, said during a news conference late Sunday. In a statement released earlier Sunday, the Pentagon said the object “was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities.”
Asked by a reporter if extraterrestrials might be involved, Gen. VanHerck responded that he would leave that to intelligence agencies to address but that “I haven’t ruled anything out.”
Anita Anand, Canada’s defense minister, said both U.S. and Canadian jet fighters were dispatched to investigate the object, which was flying near the Canadian border.
“We unequivocally support this action, and we’ll continue to work with the U.S.” to defend North America, she said.
The U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Atlantic coast Feb. 4. Military jets shot down unidentified objects over Alaska on Friday and over Canada’s Yukon territory Saturday, both of which were described by U.S. and Canadian officials as balloons.
Officials have yet to determine who launched the objects and their purpose. —>READ MORE HERE
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