LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday announced a security review after several unidentified objects were shot down over North America, so the government said it “does what it takes” to protect the country. He said he would do anything.
When asked about the object, Sunak said, “I won’t comment in detail on security issues, but I reassure people that there are all means to keep the country safe, including the rapid response capabilities of typhoon fighters.
Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said: “The UK and her allies will consider what these airspace violations mean for our national security.”
“This development is another sign of how the global threat landscape is getting worse,” he said.
A US fighter jet shot down an object over Lake Huron on Sunday. It’s the 4th kill in the US or Canada this month.
On February 4, US forces shot down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon off the coast of South Carolina after tracking it across North America for several days.
On Friday, F-22 jets shot down a “car-sized” object in U.S. airspace off the coast of Alaska, and on Saturday Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had ordered a U.S. warplane to shoot down an unidentified object – later described as a balloon — high over the Yukon territory in northwest Canada.
The item downed Sunday was described as octagonal, with strings hanging off, but had no discernable payload.
The three objects were much smaller in size, different in appearance and flew at lower altitudes than the suspected spy balloon — one of what U.S. officials say is a fleet of Chinese aerial surveillance balloons that have targeted more than 40 countries over several years.
China says the unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had blown off course.
British Transport Minister Richard Holden said Monday that it was “possible” China had flown spy balloons over the U.K. He said Britain would deal “robustly” with China, which he called “a hostile state.”
Pentagon officials say the three objects downed since then posed no security threats, but so far little is known about them and officials have ruled nothing out — not even UFOs.
