The US military said it shot down a high-altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday, in the fourth operation of its kind this month over the skies of North America. The mission by US fighter jets off the shores of Michigan and close to the Canadian border came after they separately shot down unidentified aerial objects over Yukon, the northwestern Canadian territory, on Saturday, and Alaska on Friday.

On February 4, the US military shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic off the coast of South Carolina after it crossed expansive parts of Canada and the US.

US officials have been trying to identify the origins and purpose of the three aerial objects shot down in the past three days, but so far have not announced any conclusions.