The Military Is Tracking Yet Another Mystery Balloon

Photo: Chris Hyde / Stringer (Getty Images)

Remember earlier this year when it felt like every other day there was a new report of a mysterious object in the sky that may or may not be a Chinese spy device? It feels like so much longer than just a couple of months ago. If you miss those days, though, we have some great news for you. There’s a new mystery balloon!

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NBC News reports that the U.S. military is currently tracking a balloon that flew over parts of Hawaii and is slowly moving toward Mexico. The military has actually been tracking it since last week and currently believes that the balloon “poses no threat to aerial traffic or national security and is not communicating signals.”

It’s also not clear whether it’s a weather balloon or not. Military officials don’t believe it belongs to the Chinese, but they have yet to figure out who the owner is or where it came from. In a statement, the Pentagon said there is “no indication that it was maneuvering or being controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor. The balloon did not transit directly over defense critical infrastructure or other U.S. Government sensitive sites, nor did it pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

Additionally, a spokesperson for Indo-Pacific Command told NBC, “U.S. Indo-Pacific Command responded to an unidentified radar signature Friday in the vicinity of the island of Hawaii. Pacific Air Forces launched three F-22s to assess the situation and visually identified a spherical object. We monitored the transit of the object and assessed that it posed no threat.”

That said, if it does eventually cross into U.S. territory, there’s still a good chance that the military will shoot it down. But for now, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens.