Two members of Congress confirmed that the US military shot down another flying object Sunday over Lake Huron on the border with Canada, in the fourth such operation within a week.
"Pilots from the Air Force and the National Guard shot down the body," tweeted Michigan Representative, Elisa Slotkin, who is located south of the lake. Michigan Representative Jack Bergman also said that the US military had "disabled" an object over the lake.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Pentagon, but Slotkin said she received a call from the department about this new object.
"We will know more about it in the coming days, but in the meantime, make sure all sides have kept a close eye on it since the moment it crossed our waters," she added on Twitter.
Canada announced on Saturday that an American F-22 fighter shot down an unidentified object flying in its airspace (Getty Images)
Earlier Sunday, the US Civil Aviation Authority announced that the airspace over Lake Michigan in the northern United States was closed for "national defense" reasons.
The authority later confirmed the reopening of the airspace over the lake, and said - in a statement - "The Federal Civil Aviation Authority briefly closed part of the airspace over Lake Michigan, to support the operations of the Department of Defense. The airspace has reopened."
The new incident comes a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that an "unidentified object" had been dropped over northwestern Canada, the day after US officials announced that an object had been dropped over Alaska on Friday.
The Chinese Airship Crisis
The announcement of the downing of the three objects came a week after US forces shot down a Chinese balloon believed to be for espionage, sparking a new diplomatic dispute with Beijing.
Washington's downing of the Chinese balloon last week led to an exchange of accusations and statements between both Beijing and Washington, as China responded at the time that it reserved the right to "take further measures," and criticized the United States for its "exaggerated response and serious violation of international practices."
It is noteworthy that the US government had accused China of using the balloon, which was shot down a few days ago, for the purposes of "espionage on US military facilities", while Beijing said that it was a civilian research balloon that deviated from its course.
The US State Department also accused China of running a large-scale international surveillance program, targeting more than 40 countries on five continents with a fleet of spying balloons, allegations rejected by Beijing, accusing the US government of waging an "information war" on it.
This incident caused the postponement of a scheduled visit by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to China, and the US authorities are still making efforts to collect the debris of the airship from the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of South Carolina.