Over this past weekend, the airspace over Lake Michigan was closed, fighter jets shot down objects reportedly ‘propelled by unknown means’, and the US Government has provided no answer to the common public question of: “What’s going on?!”. So, what is going on? 

From February 10th to the 12th, the United States Air Force shot down three unidentified objects over Canadian and American airspace. The first on January 10th over Alaska, the second over the Yukon Territory on the 11th, and the final over Lake Huron on the 12th. Ranging in size and shape from a small car to a “an octagonal structure with strings hanging off it” these objects were shot down by American F-22s. Called UAP’s or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, this moniker has been used by the US government in an attempt to create distance from UFOs and the conspiracies this term represents. The United States’s forwardness with reporting these latest UAPs and attacking them is bizarre, with these objects being the first aerial objects shot down over US airspace since WW2.  

A classified senatorial meeting gave some limited information but still left reporters with only cryptic answers from lawmakers. The main takeaway from the meeting came from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who said, “There is no harm for the public on the ground”, mirroring the military’s reasoning for the objects to be shot down due to their threat against air travel. John Kennedy of Louisiana stated to the Press after a classified senatorial meeting that this is not the first time these objects have been over the US, alongside a more alarmist, and silly statement of “Lock your doors”. Later Senator Kennedy said to Fox News: “If you’re confused, you understand perfectly”. With no clear answers being brought forth, the American public and media subside on rumors, with a conspiracy-prone public’s questions only answered with further questions. At first glance, the main suspect for these UAP’s would be the Chinese government, with the immediate cultural phenomena earlier this month of the Chinese Spy Balloon. However, in a press briefing partially led by John Kirby, Kirby answered this question flatly with: “Our initial assessments here, based on talking to civil authorities in the intelligence community, is that we don’t see anything that points right now to these being part of the PRC spying program or, in fact, intelligence collection against the United States of any kind,”. The US Government, according to the February 13th Press Briefing, believes these UAP’s to be privately owned objects of no nation, an answer that only tantalizes UFO buffs further.  

So, is it Aliens? Across Washington, conflicting answers are heard, with the Pentagon stating that they cannot rule out extraterrestrials contrasted with John Kirby saying in the press briefing: “I don’t think the American people need to worry about aliens, with respect to these craft. Period. I don’t think there’s any more that needs to be said there.”  

You have nothing to be afraid of right now with these UAP’s, unless you have a hobby of flying unregistered high-altitude balloons of course.  On the ground at SLU, the presence of these balloons inspires another twinge of anxiety with Jack Whamond ’24 saying: “I was surprised that earlier the Chinese Balloon was the first time we’ve caught something going over the US with the purpose of spying, and with the increasing number of objects I’m a bit concerned about what this will do to the already high tensions between China and the US”.