DULUTH 鈥� The small 鈥渙ctagonal鈥� object flying over Lake Huron on Feb. 12 appeared to have strings hanging below it before it was shot down, according to cockpit audio of the two F-16 pilots from the Minnesota Air National Guard鈥檚 Duluth-based 148th Fighter Wing that responded.
The the authenticity of the audio with a U.S. Air Force spokesperson Wednesday, Feb. 15. The audio was , a military news site.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like an octagonal shape. I鈥檓 going to call it a balloon,鈥� one of the pilots said. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to see strings hanging down below it but I don鈥檛 see anything below it. It鈥檚 pretty small, I don鈥檛 know, like the size of a four-wheeler or something.鈥�
The pilots can be heard in the 14-minute audio clip trying to see and describe the object.
鈥淚t definitely looks like something, there鈥檚 some kind of object that鈥檚 suspended in the air? It鈥檚 hard to tell. It鈥檚 pretty small,鈥� one of the pilots said.
At one point, one of the pilots said he had a 鈥渢one鈥� at 3 miles. A tone indicates a missile has locked onto a target.
鈥淚 just can鈥檛 see it with my eyes, with the glare in the cockpit,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so small.鈥�
鈥淟ooking outside if it鈥檚 kind of a blackish, I鈥檓 going to call it a container,鈥� one of the pilots said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 really tell, though, what the shape is.鈥�
Eventually, one of the F-16s would down the object, which was flying at an altitude of about 20,000 feet, with an AIM9x Sidewinder missile.
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The object fell into a deep area of Lake Huron and likely in Canadian waters. A search for it is underway.
It was the third unidentified object shot down over the U.S. and Canada in as many days. The shootdowns come after a Chinese spying balloon was brought down Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina after crossing much of the country.
First shot missed
The missile that downed the object wasn鈥檛 the only missile fired by the F-16s Sunday. The first missed, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday.
鈥淔irst shot missed, second shot hit,鈥� he said.
Milley said the missed missile was tracked and 鈥渓anded harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron.鈥�
鈥淲e go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear to the max effective range of the missile,鈥� he said.
Object could be 鈥榖enign鈥�
All three objects shot down last weekend have yet to be recovered.
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John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, on Tuesday said there has been no indication those objects were part of China鈥檚 spy balloon program,
The intelligence communities are considering the possibility that the three objects could be balloons "tied to some commercial or benign purpose," Kirby said, according to Reuters.
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