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☆ Explainer: What we know about the objects shot down by the U.S. military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here is what we know - and do not know - about the objects:WHAT ARE THE OBJECTS? It has been identified by U.S. officials as a balloon that China was using to spy on the United States. F-22s also shot down the objects over Alaska on Friday and Canada on Saturday. IS THE UNITED STATES SENDING BALLOONS OVER CHINA? Washington said another Chinese balloon had been spotted over Latin America.

China widened its dispute with the United States on Monday, claiming that U.S. high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022. Washington called that a surveillance balloon, while China has insisted it was a weather-monitoring craft blown badly off course. A White House spokeswoman denied it, and accused China of violating the sovereignty of the United States and more than 40 other countries across five continents with surveillance balloons linked to its military. "It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others." Reuters GraphicsThe three objects were flying at altitudes that could have posed a risk to air traffic, officials have said.

☆ Here's why mysterious flying objects are suddenly popping up all over the place, according to the military command that's been shooting them down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Jake Epstein | Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Four suspicious flying objects have been shot down over North American skies in recent days. NORAD changed its radar filters to help spot smaller, slower objects after a Chinese spy balloon drifted over the US. The command has changed the way it looks for them and is now finding more of these objects. Since the US Air Force shot down the Chinese balloon in early February, fighter jets have downed three additional airborne objects. US officials said this object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a threat to civilian aircraft.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this month led politicians to criticize the .S. The Pentagon said there had been four previous Chinese spy balloon flights over the United States in recent years. On Friday, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object about the size of a small car near Deadhorse, Alaska. VanHerck said the military considered shooting guns at the objects, but this was deemed too difficult given the small targets. Whether this is the start of regular shootdowns of unidentified objects over American skies is still unclear.

☆ 3 suspicious objects have been downed across North America this week. Officials have no idea where 2 of the UAP came from and the pilots who shot them down can't agree on what they even look like.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

US fighter aircraft shot down an object threatening airspace over Alaska yesterday. On Saturday, another unknown object, described as "cylindrical," was shot down over Canada. Here is what we know about the object shot down on Friday. The object shot down on Saturday was spotted in the Northern Canadian territory of Yukon. It is unclear if the object shot down off the Alaskan coast was of similar size or shape.

☆ A US fighter jet shot down an 'unidentified object' flying over northern Canada
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Michelle Mark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A US F-22 fighter jet has shot down an "unidentified object" flying over northern Canada. "I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace," Trudeau said, adding that both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully took down the object. Trudeau said the object was shot down over the Yukon, a Canadian territory, adding that Canadian forces will recover and analyze the object's wreckage. On Friday, the US shot down another unidentified object flying roughly 40,000 feet over Alaska, and one week ago, the US took down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina. US officials have said the Chinese balloon was part of an operation to gather intelligence on global militaries, and was studying "strategic bases" in the US.

The Pentagon said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected the object over Alaska late Friday evening. U.S. fighter jets from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, monitored the object as it crossed over into Canadian airspace, where Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joined the formation. "A U.S. F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory using an AIM 9X missile following close coordination between U.S. and Canadian authorities," Pentagon spokesman Brig. U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the U.S. military to work with Canada to take down the high-altitude craft after a call between Biden and Trudeau, the Pentagon said. Some U.S. lawmakers criticized Biden for not shooting down the Chinese balloon sooner.

☆ A new high-altitude flying object shot down over Northern Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media in the House of Commons foyer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada February 1, 2023. "Earlier today, President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Trudeau on the unidentified, unmanned object in North American air space," according to a statement from the White House. According to U.S. Northern Command, recovery operations continued Saturday on sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. In a statement, the Northern Command said there were no new details on what the object was. Additional debris was pulled out Friday, and operations will continue as weather permits, Northern Command said.

☆ Angry senators grill Pentagon officials over Chinese spy balloon response
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rear Admiral Fred Kacher, director for operations of the Joint Staff, during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions witnesses during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill about the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023. The hearing was part of a series of events Thursday morning in Congress, all related to the spy balloon. In the House, a resolution condemning "the Chinese Communist Party's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon" passed unanimously, 419-0. That vote took place shortly after House members received a classified briefing about the balloon and the recovery efforts from defense and intelligence officials.

☆ The US military didn't know if the missile that took out a Chinese spy balloon would work when an F-22 took the shot, commander says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Jake Epstein | Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An F-22 downed a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday with a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. But the Pentagon wasn't sure if the missile would work when the pilot fired it, a top commander said. US Marines transport an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at Iwakuni in Japan in September. Weapons evaluators for the Air Force could not immediately address Insider's inquiry on the matter. The AIM-120, on the other hand, is a "new generation" missile that succeeded the AIM-7 Sparrow, according to the Air Force.

☆ The 3 Chinese spy balloons spotted during the Trump administration were initially classified as UFOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Chinese spy balloon seen floating over the United States was shot down on Saturday. Three spy balloons were seen during the Trump administration and were initially classified as UFOs. Trump, however, denies the balloons ever existedIn a Sunday interview with Fox News, Trump said the Biden administration lied about Chinese balloons being seen during his term because "they look so bad." It is unclear if the spy balloons seen during the Trump administration were shot down, as limited details about the incidents were only made public this week. Balloon surveillance has been utilized as far back as the 1800s, according to Al Jazeera, and was popularized during the first World War.

☆ MTG demands probe over why former President Trump was apparently not informed of previous Chinese balloons over the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a probe into why Trump wasn't informed about spy balloons. Three Chinese surveillance balloons entered US air space during his presidency, officials said. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 6, 2023The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Insider's out-of-hours request for comment. Senior administration officials speaking to Fox News and The Washington Post said they were discovered only after Trump left office. "Two things can be true at once: this happened, and it wasn't detected," one official told Fox.

☆ Photos capture the moment US Navy sailors pulled the downed Chinese balloon out of the ocean
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Newly released photos show US sailors pulling a downed Chinese spy balloon out of the ocean. Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. It then traveled southeast across the continental US before it was downed off the Coast of South Carolina. Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.

The United States operates a military base and nuclear missile silos in Montana, a state bordering Idaho. Military officials developed a plan to shoot down the balloon on Wednesday as it flew over Montana. BALLOON MANEUVERSThe U.S. government has declined to say which sites the Chinese balloon surveyed. On Friday, the Pentagon said it expected the balloon to keep flying over the United States for several more days. "That will make it fairly easy, actually," a military official said of the recovery operation in the Atlantic.

☆ Meet the 'Arizona Balloon Buster,' the ace WWI pilot famous for shooting down enemy balloons on 'suicide' missions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For his efforts in the skies above the battlefield, Luke became famous as the "Arizona Balloon Buster," according to the US Air Force. Shortly after the US entered World War I in the spring of 1917, the 20-year-old enlisted in the military and trained to become a pilot. These expensive assets were protected by anti-aircraft guns and aircraft, so trying to attack them was "practically suicide," the Air Force said. American World War I fighter ace, Frank Luke Jr (1897 - 1918), with his SPAD S.XIII biplane, France, 18th September 1918. Luke Air Force Base in Arizona is named after Frank Luke Jr., and the ace pilot also has a statue in Phoenix.

☆ Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Courtney Kube | Carol E. Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Pentagon would not confirm that the balloon in the photo was the surveillance balloon. The U.S. military has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern U.S. for the past few days, and military and defense leaders have discussed shooting it out of the sky, according to two U.S. officials and a senior defense official. "The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon spokesperson Brig. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now. Pentagon leaders presented the options to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

☆ Worried about World War III, Trump says he wants an 'impenetrable' shield like Iron Dome to protect the US from hypersonic weapons. A missile defense expert says it's a long shot.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Trump recently said the US should build a nationwide missile defense shield like Israel's Iron Dome. It is unclear if Trump wants the Iron Dome system defending American cities or if he wants a new shield specifically designed for hypersonic threats. Either way, his plan for an "impenetrable" defense is unrealistic, a missile defense expert told Insider. 'There's always some way to get through'Right now, the US has a homeland missile defense system called the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). While Trump appears to be questionably framing the missile defense situation, there are still certain things that the US can do to strengthen its homeland missile defense, Williams noted.

☆ Russia's troops are tied down in Ukraine, but some of its best subs are still holding the US 'at risk,' top US commanders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

US military leaders have warned that Russia's Severodvinsk-class subs are operating near US coasts. Severodvinsk-class subs have a mix of stealth and striking power that worries US and NATO navies. Russia plans to build nine Severodvinsk-class subs, which it calls the Yasen class, and may add more in the future. In addition to nuclear propulsion, Severodvinsk-class subs have advanced quieting technology and are built with low-magnetic steel, making them harder to detect. They demonstrated it in the mid-2010s by firing Kalibr cruise missiles at ISIS targets in Syria, surprising some US officials.

☆ Canada finalizes deal for Lockheed's F-35 fighter jets in C$19 bln project
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning IIs fly side by side with Republic of Korea Air Force F-35s as part of a bilateral exercise over the Yellow Sea, Republic of Korea, July 12, 2022. OTTAWA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Canada has finalized a deal to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets from U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) in a C$19 billion ($14.2 billion) project to replace its aging fleet of fighter aircraft, the Canadian government said on Monday. The purchase of F-35 stealth fighters would mark the largest investment in the Canadian Air Force in more than 30 years. The F-35 fighter deal announcement coincides with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Mexico on Monday for the North American leaders' summit where he will meet U.S. President Joe Biden. The C$19 billion project includes cost of infrastructure set-up, weapons and other related expenses in addition to the price of planes.

☆ Santa Claus undaunted by arctic blast, U.S. military says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Keith Coffman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Royal Canadian Air Force's 22 Wing holds it’s annual NORAD Tracks Santa promotion at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay in North Bay, Ontario, Canada December 9, 2021. Corporal Rob Ouellette/Canadian Forces/Handout via REUTERSDENVER, Dec 24 (Reuters) - U.S. military officials have assured anxious children the arctic blast and snowstorm that wreaked havoc on U.S. airline traffic this week will not prevent Santa Claus from making his annual Christmas Eve flight. The Santa tracker tradition originated from a 1955 misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper of the telephone number of a department store for children to call and speak with Santa. U.S. and Canadian fighter jet pilots provide a courtesy escort for him over North America, and Santa slows down to wave to them, he added. Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Steve Gorman and Philippa FletcherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The winter storm will not ground Santa's global flight, says NORAD's Daniel Cheever
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe winter storm will not ground Santa's global flight, says NORAD's Daniel CheeverU.S. Navy Rear Admiral Daniel Cheever joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to report whether this year's winter storm sweeping across the country will impact Santa's global journey on Christmas Eve.

☆ Santa's 25-acre North Pole home is now worth over $1 million — and it has hot cocoa on tap, according to Zillow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Santa's fictional cabin is once again available for viewing on real estate site Zillow. The 25-acre property was valued at $650,000 in 2016 and is worth an estimated $1.1 million in 2022. Santa's house is one of Zillow's most viewed homes, according to the company. According to the off-market listing, Santa's home is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom cabin built in 1822 and "steeped in Old World charm." Santa's helpers have their own living quarters in "Elf Village," according to Zillow.

☆ I run NORAD's Santa tracker program. It takes thousands of volunteers and state-of-the-art tech to give kids Santa's real-time location.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Taayoo Murray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Lieutenant Sean Carter is a public-affairs officer who runs the NORAD Tracks Santa program. The tradition started by accident in 1955, and now an average of 1,500 volunteers help every year. I'm also the NORAD Tracks Santa program manager. Before taking over as the NORAD Tracks Santa program manager, I briefly worked in public affairs at Space Base Delta 1 — a Space Force unit responsible for installations all around the globe. NORAD has other events, but for the past 67 years, one of the Department of Defense's largest outreach events has been NORAD Tracks Santa.

Over recent years, NATO allies and Russia have scaled up military exercises in the region; Chinese and Russian warships conducted a joint exercise in the Bering Sea in September. Four Arctic experts say it would take the West at least 10 years to catch up with Russia's military in the region, if it chose to do so. "NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic with more modern capabilities," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters. Now NATO and Arctic allies are changing their stance. Sweden and Finland have begun investing in surveillance and deterrence capabilities and military hardware including jets so their air forces can fight alongside Arctic NATO allies.

☆ The US and Canada are updating a Cold War-era system to keep an eye on Russian and Chinese missiles. Experts say they need to add a lot more territory too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The US and Canada are modernizing NORAD to watch for Russian, Chinese, and North Korean missiles. At the same time, some experts argue that the command should expand beyond North America to include Denmark and its North American territory, Greenland. North American Aerospace Defense Command, as it's now known, is also responsible for detecting and tracking North Korean missile launches. But the North Pole is still a dagger pointed at North America. The defense of North America is still on NORAD's radar.

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