The restriction lasted less than an hour.

The United States decided on Sunday, February 12, to briefly close the airspace above Lake Michigan, for reasons related to "national defense", announced the regulator of American civil aviation (FAA).

"The FAA briefly closed a portion of the airspace over Lake Michigan to support Department of Defense operations. The airspace has been reopened," the regulator said in a statement.

pic.twitter.com/f3KlY4Wefl

— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) February 12, 2023

This news comes as three flying objects have been shot down in a week over the United States and Canada.

On Saturday February 11, an unidentified object flying over Canada was shot down by a US plane, as part of a joint operation between Washington and Ottawa, marking a new incident since the downing of a supposed Chinese spy balloon last week. 

Radar anomaly and spy balloon 

Also on Saturday evening, a fighter jet was dispatched to investigate a "radar anomaly" over the US state of Montana, the US military said.

"This plane did not identify any object (allowing) to correlate the radar echoes," said NORAD and the US Northern Command, adding to continue "to monitor the situation".

Airspace in the northwestern United States territory had been temporarily closed "to support Department of Defense operations. The airspace has been reopened," the US aviation regulator said Saturday night. civilian (FAA).

On February 4, images captured by US military aircraft show that the Chinese balloon that flew over the United States was well equipped with spy tools and not intended for weather.

> To read also: "Spy balloon": "China will increase the pressure in its regional environment"

This diplomatic clash had led the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken to postpone a rare visit to China. 

The American authorities are still busy collecting the debris from the balloon in the Atlantic, near the coast of South Carolina.

With AFP

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