The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly canceled “national defense airspace” over part of Lake Michigan, the organization announced Sunday.
The FAA says it closed off the area to allow the US military to examine a “potential contact” that was soon determined not to be a threat. The FAA last established national defense airspace over Montana this weekend in reaction to an unidentified flying object.
“Pilots who do not adhere to the following [procedure] they may be intercepted, detained and interviewed by police or security personnel,” the FAA wrote in an initial announcement Sunday, adding that such pilots may face deadly force in the air.
“The FAA briefly closed some airspace over Lake Michigan to support Department of Defense activities. The airspace has been reopened,” the FAA wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital.
THE PENTAGON SAYS WE DETECTED A THIRD FLYING ‘OBJECT’ OVER ALASKA A DAY BEFORE IT SHOT DOWN OVER CANADA
The FAA has established a national defense zone over part of Lake Michigan. (US NORCOM)
The FAA ended its traffic ban over Montana later Saturday, and NORAD issued a statement indicating the object was just a radar anomaly.
However, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., issued a statement on Twitter saying that NORTHCOM believes there is an object over the state that is not an anomaly.
“I am in constant communication with NORCOM [sic] and I’ve just been informed that they are confident that there IS an object and it WAS NOT an anomaly. I’m waiting now for visual confirmation. The security of our nation is my priority,” she wrote on Sunday.
REPUBLICANS REACT TO THIRD ‘OBJECT’ DOWNED ON OVER CANADA: ‘UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGE’
NORAD had issued a statement on Saturday saying it “detected a radar anomaly and dispatched fighter jets to investigate.”
“Those planes did not identify any objects to correlate with the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation,” the statement continued.
Rep. Matt Rosendale says NORTHCOM believes there is still an airborne object over Montana. (Reuters)
US forces transport debris from China’s surveillance balloon to a boat off the coast of South Carolina. (US Fleet Forces)
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The United States shot down three planes over North America last week, the first being a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. The second and third are believed to have been smaller balloons, shot down over Alaska and Canada, respectively.
