Four objects in the skies have been shot down by US fighter jets over the last eight days.

The latest was over Lake Huron on Sunday, February 12. The order to shoot down the unidentified objects (UFOs) came from President Biden, and was part of an unprecedented chain of events over US airspace during peacetime.

The head of NORAD and the US Northern Command, General Glen VanHerck, said in a press conference that the activities followed a heightened alert after a spy balloon from China entered the US airspace and was shot down.

Since then, there have been multiple shoot-downs of similar objects in Canada and Alaska. Pentagon officials are not saying that the objects create a security threat, but they admit that they know very little about them and are not ruling anything out.

Homeland Security Assistant Defense Secretary Melissa Dalton said that they have been more closely scrutinizing the US airspace and have enhanced radar surveillance, which could also explain the increase in objects being discovered and getting shot down.

General VanHerck said that the downings were the first time NORAD or the US Northern Command had taken action against UFOs in US airspace. There has been speculation about the origin of the objects and the agencies are investigating. 

In January, officials spotted a white orb from China in the US hovering above the country for a few days. Fighter jets downed it days later off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when they determined that it would not cause injuries on the ground. 

The latest object was picked up on radar last weekend, February 11-12, over Montana and Lake Huron, according to officials.

Planes intercepted the octagonal object flying at about 20,000 feet. 

US officials are still trying to identify other UFOs shot down from the sky to determine if China is responsible for them and if they are connected to China’s suspected large-scale aerial surveillance program.

On Saturday, February 11, officials shot down an object over Canada’s Yukon region and described it as a balloon. It was much smaller than the one shot down on February 4.

The object seen on Friday, February 10, was taken down while it was flying over Alaska. It was described as a cylindrical airship.

The white balloon that US F-22 jets shot down on February 4 was assumed to be sent by the Chinese to detect and collect intelligence. China, however, has denied it was used for spying and said it was a civilian meteorological airship that had gone off course.

The incidents have increased diplomatic tensions between the two countries and raised questions about the extent of China’s surveillance of America.