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An unidentified object was spotted in the skies above Montana, a Republican congressman from the state said on Sunday.
Just before that, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) levied a temporary flight restriction to commercial aircraft above another part of the country, in northern Michigan, before lifting it less than an hour later.
The chaos comes as American officials and residents alike have been unnerved after a Chinese spy balloon was downed off the coast of South Carolina last weekend – but not before traversing several US states at an altitude low enough to be seen by the naked eye.
GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale revealed on Saturday that he was informed of such a developing incident, though officials at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) later indicated that was a false alarm.
But according to the Montana conservative’s latest update – the situation may be more serious than it seemed.
Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale said he was in communication with officials on Sunday about an unidentified object in his state’s airspace
It comes after earlier updates he posted about a sighting of an unknown object on Saturday night
‘I am in constant communication with NORCOM and they have just advised me that they have confidence there IS an object and it WAS NOT an anomaly,’ Rosendale wrote on Twitter.
‘I am waiting now to receive visual confirmation. Our nation’s security is my priority.’
DailyMail.com reached out to NORAD for comment but was directed to the agency’s previous public statements. A subsequent inquiry sent on Rosendale’s latest post was not immediately returned.
The Pentagon also did not immediately return a request for comment on Rosendale’s claim.
Montana’s Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said on Sunday that he was in touch with Defense officials regarding the developments from Saturday night, but offered no new updates himself.
‘I’m continuing to receive regular updates from the Pentagon and our intelligence community as we closely monitor American airspace in light of last night’s development. I will keep holding them accountable so the public gets the answers they deserve,’ Tester said.
The moderate senator indicated earlier on CBS News’ Face The Nation that he was still aware of something developing in Montana’s airspace.
‘I think the investigation is still going on as we speak,’ Tester said.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023
‘The truth is, is that there was an anomaly, and they’ve investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn’t fully check it out. I’m sure, as we speak, it’s being checked out right now.’
He summarized the uncertainty, ‘There may still be something out there. It may be a false alarm.’
If there is indeed an unknown or malign object in Montana’s airspace, Tester guessed ‘it’ll get shot down’ by the military.
It’s not immediately clear what the object is, or where it’s from, but Americans have been on high alert ever since the Chinese spy balloon shot down last weekend led to a host of revelations about Beijing’s vast global surveillance program.
Defense officials said they were able to gain valuable insight into China’s spy balloon program by studying the device as it drifted across the country, while avoiding shooting it down over the continental US and risking injuries for Americans on the ground.
The US believes China has been carrying this program out across 40 countries in order to learn more about other nations’ surveillance capabilities.
It’s not clear whether this latest Montana incident is related to the balloon.
The potential sighting in Montana on Saturday night led to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) levying a temporary restriction on airspace in the area, though it was lifted later that night.
Rosendale first wrote on Twitter that evening that airspace over Havre, Indiana and the surrounding area was ‘closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic.’
‘DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning,’ the lawmaker added.
He later posted an update that air traffic had resumed.
NORAD later confirmed in a statement that it temporarily shut down air traffic in central Montana in coordination with the FAA but downplayed the incident as a misidentification.
‘NORAD detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate,’ the statement read.
‘Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation.’
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