So far the result has been a series of visual confirmations and shootdowns – three in the past three days – and accompanied by the closure of US and Canadian airspace to avoid collisions between military and civilian aircraft.
“We’re certainly looking hard now,” said a US military official on condition of anonymity.
On Friday, a US F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object the size of a small car near Deadhorse, Alaska.
And on Saturday, another F-22 reported an object described by Canada as similar in size but much smaller to the Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US missile on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina.
The latest object to be shot down on Sunday likely floated from Montana to Lake Huron, where an F-16 shot it down with a Sidewinder missile, the same weapon used against Chinese balloons and unidentified objects. Each Sidewinder costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
VanHerck said the military considered firing guns at the objects, but deemed it too difficult given the small targets. Using the guns would also be more dangerous to the pilot, as debris could more easily hit an aircraft than launching a missile from a distance.