- An F-16 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to take down a flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday.
- But a top US general revealed on Tuesday that the fighter jet missed on its first attempt.
The F-16 fighter jet that recently shot down a mysterious object over Lake Huron missed on its first attempt, a top US general said on Tuesday.
Speaking alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a joint news conference in Brussels, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said the US Air Force F-16 missed its first shot during a Sunday operation to take down what the Pentagon called an "airborne object."
On the second attempt, the fighter aircraft fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile and "successfully" took down the object at an altitude of 20,000 feet over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said previously. This was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North American airspace since early February, but Milley said the previous three only required one shot.
"On the fourth one, over Lake Huron, the first shot missed, the second shot hit," Milley said in response to a reporter's question, confirming earlier reports. He added that "the most important thing for the American military is to protect the American people."
Milley said that the US evaluated the risks of the operation, including any posed by the flying object, and if they pose a military, intelligence, or civil aviation threat.
"We determine what the debris field is likely to be with one of these platforms landing on the earth's surface or in the water. So we go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear, and the backdrop is clear — out to the max effective range of the missile," Milley said. "And in this case, the missile landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron. We tracked it all the way down."
Sunday's operation marked the fourth instance in about a week in which a US Air Force fighter jet shot down a flying object over North American airspace.
An F-22 Raptor first downed a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, and just a few days later, in two separate engagements on February 10 and 11, F-22s downed unidentified flying objects over northern Alaska and Canada.
Although the first object has been identified as a Chinese surveillance balloon, it's not immediately clear what, exactly, the US military shot down in the three operations last weekend. Officials have said that they vary in size and shape, and they were also taken down at different altitudes. All four objects were shot down using the AIM-9X Sidewinder.
The general leading North American Aerospace Defense Command and US Northern Command offered an explanation on Sunday for why there has been a seemingly sudden increase in flying objects appearing over North American airspace. Gen. Glen VanHerck said that after the Chinese spy balloon was taken down, NORAD tweaked its radar filters to start looking for smaller and slower-moving systems, and these potential threats began showing up.