The mystery surrounding an unidentified flying object (UFO) shot down over Lake Huron has been solved, according to new documents released by Canada’s Department of National Defence. The object, which was shot down by a United States F-16 fighter jet on February 12, 2023, has been identified as weather monitoring equipment.
The object was reported to be octagonal with "strings hanging off" and was shot down into the Canadian waters of Lake Huron. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, along with the American and Canadian Coast Guard, conducted a search for the object, but the effort was eventually called off. The wreckage was found on the Lake Huron shoreline about three weeks later, according to documents requested by CTV News.
An email exchange between a senior official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a military official revealed that the object was made by a company that sells weather monitoring equipment. The object was characterized as a suspected balloon that did not pose a military threat but could have interfered with domestic air traffic.
Iain Boyd, the director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, suggested that both Canadian and American government officials kept the findings quiet to avoid embarrassment.
"To have expended significant military time and resources to shoot down benign objects does not look good, even though there may have been many factors we are still unaware of," Boyd told CTV News.