The US shot a missile at the balloon (Image: Department of War)
A US fighter jet used a missile worth almost $500,000 (£350,000) to destroy a balloon linked to a Boy Scouts project, according to a former official.
Newly released footage from the Pentagon shows the moment a US Air Force F-16 intercepted and destroyed an unidentified object over Lake Huron in February 2023, days after the Chinese spy balloon controversy gripped America.
The 45-second infrared clip shows a dark orb-like object with a string hanging beneath it before it is struck and blown apart.
According to Tim Phillips, former interim director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the military was on heightened alert following the Chinese balloon incident.
“The F16 shot at a balloon over Lake Huron. After the [Chinese spy] balloon embarrassment, DOD was shooting at every [Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena] they detected,” Phillips told The New York Post.
Former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick later claimed the object was linked to a Boy Scout research project.
“[The balloon] had circumnavigated the globe eight times before we shot it down with a half-million-dollar missile,” Kirkpatrick said during a conference appearance in April.
The aftermath of the attack (Image: Department of War)
“You can imagine the response on the Hill when I briefed that.”
Kirkpatrick said the balloon formed part of an ongoing research project but did not provide further details.
The incident occurred just one week after the US military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that had crossed large parts of the United States before being destroyed off the South Carolina coast.
The Lake Huron interception was not the only case to raise questions about the military’s response to unidentified objects.
On February 11, 2023, a US Air Force F-22 shot down another balloon over Alaska. Reports later suggested the object may have been a small research balloon belonging to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade.
According to reports, the balloon had cost around $12 to build, while the missile used to destroy it was worth approximately $439,000.
Kirkpatrick also recalled another incident in which a pilot reported encountering an object with what appeared to be “stealth-like capabilities”.
The pilot was authorised to engage the target, only for it to later emerge that the object was a star-shaped Mylar balloon purchased from Walmart and carrying a “Happy Birthday” message.
Phillips said many reports of unidentified aerial phenomena ultimately turned out to have ordinary explanations.
“They’ve been on mission and they’ve got to get back to base to rearm and refuel. And you’ve got a bored operator looking around. And they pick something up and aren’t sure what it is,” he said.
“We’re actually seeing good reporting coming out of the fleet, coming out of the operation wings and squadrons, where they’re willing to report this stuff.
“And this is part of that outreach where we get our scientists to talk to the Reaper operators and actually go side by side and try to do some education.”
