Pilots of the cutting-edge F-35 stealth jet fighter-bombers that were dispatched to investigate the "octagonal" unidentified aircraft over Lake Huron on 12 February, reportedly revealed that it "interfered with the sensors of their aircraft".
The flying craft had been the fourth in a succession of puzzling high-altitude objects, each reportedly different from the others, that had floated over North America and was downed in just over a week. Pilots were described as having offered different accounts of what they observed after flying near the object, according to a source briefed on the matter and cited by US media.
The object, flying at 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) and, as such, considered to be a risk to civilian traffic, "was actually interfering with the sensors of their aircraft and they couldn't figure out why, because there was no identifiable kind of surveillance equipment on the object... There was nothing that appeared readily able to interfere with that communication system," a US media report said.
It went on to say that other pilots ostensibly failed to spot anything on the object that "appeared able to propel it". The report did acknowledge that the pilots in question had been flying extremely fast so it was "possible that these pilots just didn't get a good look at it".
Earlier, a Pentagon official was cited by media as describing the object as purportedly moving in a floating, “balloon-like” manner, without “any sort of propulsion”.
The fourth object was spotted and downed over lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes straddling the US-Canada border. A US F-16 fighter jet shot it down on Sunday afternoon on the instructions of President Joe Biden, according to the Pentagon.
When discussing the incident, pilots also reportedly described the object as "about the size of a small car" but "not similar in size or shape" to the Chinese balloon shot down on 4 February over the Atlantic Ocean after drifting for days over the US. The United States claimed it had downed a Chinese surveillance balloon.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, though confirming that the balloon was theirs, rejected US accusations of it being used for covert intelligence-gathering. It insisted the craft was a research airship used by civilian scientists that had been blown off course.
This incident was followed by two more airborne objects at great altitude, being taken down over Alaska (10 February), and Canada's Yukon Territory (11 February) , with the latter described as "cylindrical".
Regarding the latest object to be shot down, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said recovery teams were collecting the debris from the ice in US territorial waters. When asked how the object compared with the Chinese balloon brought down earlier, Ryder said they were very different, and comparing them was like trying to compare "apples with oranges".
"We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat because of its potential surveillance capabilities. Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more," Ryder said.