The mystery surrounding an unidentified aerial object (UFO) shot down over Lake Huron has been clarified, according to newly released documents from Canada’s Department of National Defence. The object, downed by a U.S. F-16 fighter jet on February 12, 2023, has been identified as weather monitoring equipment.
Described as octagonal with “strings hanging off,” the object was shot down into Canadian waters over Lake Huron. A search operation, involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the American and Canadian Coast Guards, was initially launched but later called off. The wreckage was eventually located on the Lake Huron shoreline approximately three weeks later, according to documents obtained by CTV News.
An email exchange between a senior RCMP official and a military representative confirmed the object was manufactured by a company specializing in weather monitoring devices. It was classified as a suspected balloon that posed no military threat but had the potential to disrupt domestic air traffic.
Iain Boyd, director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, speculated that both Canadian and American authorities kept the findings under wraps to avoid public scrutiny.
“Expending considerable military resources to destroy harmless objects doesn’t reflect well, even though there may be several underlying factors still unknown to us,” Boyd shared with CTV News.