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    UFOs? Airborne objects? What we know about 4 recent shootdowns

    The shootdowns came in steady succession over the weekend, after alarms were raised in early February over an object spotted over Montana.
    by Bill Chappell Feb 13, 2023 5 minutes
    Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon in the waters off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Feb. 5, after a fighter jet shot the balloon out of the sky.

    U.S. fighter jets have shot down four high-altitude objects this month — including the first instance in which U.S. Northern Command "has taken kinetic action against an airborne object" in U.S. airspace over its nearly 65-year existence, according to the unit's commanding officer, Gen. Glen VanHerck.

    The shootdowns came in steady succession over the weekend, after alarms were raised in early February over an object that the U.S. said was a surveillance balloon deployed by China.

    China has accused the U.S. of flying its own spy balloons over China — a claim rejected by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

    "We do not send spy balloons over China, period," Blinken told NPR's Morning Edition.

    With the other recently downed objects yet to be publicly identified, speculation has included questions of whether

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