US: After series of shootdowns, another white balloon spotted over east of Honolulu

A large white balloon has been spotted just to the East of Honolulu, Hawaii. Currently multiple commercial flights flying through the area have reported through ACARS.

A message from the Oakland Oceanic Air Traffic Control Center on Sunday said a large white balloon had been reported over the Pacific Ocean, about 594 miles (955 kilometers) northeast of Honolulu.

The balloon was reported to be flying at an altitude of roughly 40,000 to 50,000 feet (12,000 to 15,000 meters). “Advice [air traffic control] if object is seen,” the message to pilots said.

US downed unknown objects earlier

The US downed yet another flying object on Feb 11. This time over Canada in a closely coordinated action between the militaries of the two countries.

Third shoot down by the US within 8 days

The Saturday shooting was the the third by the US starting with the downing of the Chinese spy balloon on February 4 after it had drifted across the American mainland for a week entering the US through Alaska on January 28. Another object was blown out of the skies on Friday over Alaska.

There was no word from both the US and Canada on the origin, ownership and purpose of the object downed on Saturday.

US President and Canadian Prime Minister assigned the task to NORAD

Following a call between the Prime Minister of Canada and the US President, President Biden authorised US fighter aircraft assigned to North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) to work with Canada to take down a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada today," said the US Department of Defence on Saturday.

NORAD detected the object on Friday over Alaska. Two US F-22 fighter jets monitored the object to study and characterize it, the Department of Defence said and added the monitoring continued till the object floated into Canadian airspace, with the US jets joined by Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft.

A US F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory using an AIM 9X finally, in a mission closely coordinated by US and Canadian authorities.