US President Joe Biden on Thursday said that the United States has no indication that the three objects shot down in North American air space in the past week are tied to China’s spy balloon program and are likely from private entities, CNN reported.
Last Friday, the US military shot down a "high-altitude object" flying over Alaska airspace on the orders of President Biden.
A day alter, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) shot down an "unidentified object" over the Canadian territory of Yukon on the orders of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Prime Minister added he ordered the object to be shot down after it violated Canadian airspace.
And, on Sunday, the US military shot down another high-altitude object over Lake Huron.
“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Biden said in his first formal remarks on the objects shot from the sky
“The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” he added.
Biden emphasized that there hasn’t been evidence to suggest “a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky.” And although the most recent three objects appear to have been benign, Biden warned, “If any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down.”
The downing of the three objects came days after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed from Alaska to South Carolina.
Biden said on Thursday he expects to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the matter, along with keeping allies and Congress informed.
“And I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this, but I make no apologies for taking down that balloon,” he added.
Shooting down the balloon, Biden stated, sent “a clear message that the violation of our sovereignty was unacceptable. We’ll act to protect our country and we did.”