Washington | A US fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday (Monday AEDT) on orders from President Joe Biden. It was the fourth such downing in eight days and the latest military strike in an extraordinary chain of events over US airspace that Pentagon officials believe has no peacetime precedent.

Part of the reason for the repeated shoot-downs is a “heightened alert” following a spy balloon from China that emerged over US airspace in late January, General Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and US Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters.

AP