The Pentagon said in a Sunday statement that an airborne object had been shot down on Sunday at the command of US President Joe Biden in Huron Lake, Michigan, for security reasons related to the potential surveillance capabilities of the object. 

"Today at 2:42 p.m., at the direction of President Biden, and based on the recommendations of [US Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan. Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation," the Pentagon's statement read.

According to an official defense source, the Pentagon has still not been able to assess the nature of the object due to the lack of relevant information.

"We have not yet been able to definitively assess what these recent objects are. We have acted out of an abundance of caution to protect our security interests," US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Melissa Dalton said during a Sunday Pentagon briefing.

NORAD has once again scrambled fighter jets to shoot down an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron.

My Government is ready to take action to protect Canada.

That's why we're implementing an 'Alien Tax', which all Canadians will be required to pay to deter alien invasions. pic.twitter.com/8VH7BUv4E9

— Justin Trudeau's Ego (@Trudeaus_Ego) February 13, 2023

Another source said that the Pentagon is still not in the capacity to attribute a link between the recent airborne objects in North American and any specific country.

"I would be hesitant and urge you not to attribute it to any specific country. We don't know," Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, head of the US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said during a Sunday Pentagon briefing. 

'I haven't ruled out anything'

VanHerck added that he did not rule out suspicions that the unidentified object, including the three previous ones that were downed over the past few days, may be linked to extraterrestrial phenomena.
  
"I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything," VanHerck said when responding to the possible connection of the objects to aliens.

An F-16 fighter jet downed the octagon-shaped object over Lake Huron at an altitude of 20,000 feet.🤨👇 pic.twitter.com/l0p4L76CHQ

— 🇺🇸Will🇺🇸 (@notBilly) February 12, 2023

Read more: Previous Chinese 'spy' balloons went undetected while in US airspace

US Congressman Jack Bergman said on Sunday that the US shot down the object over lake Huron on Sunday, right near the border with Canada, marking the fourth taken down over North America in less than two weeks.

"I’ve been in contact with DOD [Department of Defense] regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today. The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron. I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots. The American people deserve far more answers than we have," Representative Bergman tweeted on Sunday.

I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today.

The US military has decommissioned another “object” over Lake Huron.

I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots.

The American people deserve far more answers than we have.

— Rep. Jack Bergman (@RepJackBergman) February 12, 2023

Representative Elissa Slotkin from Michigan had tweeted earlier on Sunday that the US military was tracking the object.

She later tweeted on Monday that the object had been shot down and vowed to ask Congress to clarify the nature and purpose of the object based of an examination of the wreckage. 

The object has been downed by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard. Great work by all who carried out this mission both in the air and back at headquarters. We’re all interested in exactly what this object was and it’s purpose. 1/ https://t.co/LsjwtjntCv

— Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) February 12, 2023

This comes just two days after Canada confirmed that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) shot down the object over Yukon, however, the nature of the object is still not clear nor if it is related to the Chinese balloon from last week or the object shot down over Alaska on Friday.

On January 28, the first Chinese balloon to be publicly reported was detected over the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Alaska, before it was found floating over missile sites in Montana. Days later, after tracking it, the US decided to shoot it down over the South Carolina coast. 

While the US has claimed that the balloons are used for spying purposes by Beijing, China said they are used for weather surveillance and they had mistakenly entered US airspace due to a force majeure. 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said then that "China... never violated the territory and airspace of any sovereign country," adding that "some politicians and media in the United States used the (balloon) incident as a pretext to attack and smear China."

Read more: US shoots down unidentified object over Northern Alaska: Pentagon