148th’s Fighting Falcon. The newest and most capable F-16 in the U.S. Air Force. General Dynamics has built 4,600 Falcons since 1973, many for other nations. F-16s can fly 1,300 mph as high as 58,000 feet.
Balloon pierced 20,000 feet over Lake Huron
CHEBOYGAN, Mich. –A Minnesota Air National Guard pilot shot down the latest balloon to be found unauthorized in U.S. air space. The balloon was east of Mackinac Island off the south coast of the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The pilot, whose name was not released by the Pentagon, fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder, a standard air-to-air missile in the U.S. arsenal, to bring down the balloon. This was about 2:30 p.m. The balloon had been detected over Montana the day before and was being tailed the next 1,200 miles by aircraft from the 148th Fighter Wing based in Duluth and other aircraft. The balloon had been mostly at 20,000 feet. The Pentagon waited to shoot down the balloon until it was over water to avoid collateral ground damage. The Pentagon did not provide an exact location of the takedown down, but Lake Huron averages 200 feet deep. The balloon was headed across the lake to Ontario. The international border is mid-lake 50 mikes from Cheboygan. The shootdown was authorized by President Biden in conjunction with Prime Minister Trudeau.
Earlier: How they voted: Chinese spy balloon
A weather balloon?
The Pentagon’s early guess was that the balloon had been on a meteorological missing – not like the espionage of a Chinese balloon brought down a week earlier from 60,000 feet. This latest object, the fourth shot down in a week, was considered an aviation hazard. Most air traffic is below 32,000 feet. The balloon was described as octagonal with straps hanging from its underbelly. The Pentagon said the balloon’s launch site not been established nor had the owner come forward.
Changing filters
The Pentagon has acknowledged that it may have missed all kinds of weather and other balloons for years. Its radar system through the joint U.S-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command, based in Colorado, was designed to detect high-speed missile and aircraft invasions. Now, the Pentagon said, filters in the NORAD detection systems been adjusted to pick up slow-moving unidentified objects like balloons, benign or otherwise.