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U.S. fighter jets shot down two more objects flying over the United States and Canadian territories over the weekend. Although a comprehensive analysis of the debris will be needed, a top Democratic senator said they are now believed to be balloons similar to a Chinese one downed a week ago.
VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptWASHINGTON WEEK AHEAD))
HEADLINE: Sen. Schumer: Downed ‘Objects’ Likely Smaller Balloons
TEASER: Flying objects trigger calls to boost US defense systems
PUBLISHED AT: 02/12/2023 at 3:52 pm
BYLINE: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE:
VIDEO EDITOR: Marcus Harton
SCRIPT EDITORS: caw, sv SR
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Agencies, see script for others
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TRT: 2:23
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((INTRO: )) [[U.S. fighter jets shot down two more objects flying over the United States and Canadian territories over the weekend. Although a comprehensive analysis of the debris will be needed, a top Democratic senator said they are now believed to be balloons similar to a Chinese one downed a week ago. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.]]
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After the United States and
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Canadian leaders gave the green light,
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U.S. F-22 fighter jets shot down two more aerial objects cruising over North America. After being briefed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan,
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Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week” they are now believed to be balloons
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but not as big as the Chinese spy balloon downed the previous week
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((Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat))
“Much smaller than the first one. Both of those - one over Canada, one over Alaska were 40,000 feet. It was immediately determined that that’s a danger to commercial aircraft.”
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To learn more about the capabilities of the three crafts, a comprehensive analysis of the debris will need to be carried out. There are still too many unanswered questions, Democratic Representative Jim Himes emphasized when interviewed by NBC.
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((Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat))
“I have real concern about why the administration is not being more forthcoming with everything that it knows but part of the problem here is that the second and the third objects were shot down in very remote areas, so my guess is that there’s just not a lot of information out there yet to share.”
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Considering the circumstances, the U.S. defense systems should be boosted,
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Republican Representative Mike Turner told CNN.
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((Rep. Mike Turner, Republican))
“We don’t really have adequate radar systems; we certainly don’t have an integrated missile defense system. We’re going to have to begin to look at the United States airspace as one that we need to defend.”
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Republican Representative James Comer told ABC he is glad the Biden administration is taking the matter seriously, but that there are bigger problems to tackle with China.
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((Rep. James Comer, Republican))
“Their military continues to grow and expand as they’re continuing their Belt and Road initiative all over the world where they’re trying to create a dominant world economy.”
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Comer was referring to China’s controversial investments in infrastructure projects in several countries.
Pentagon officials say the object shot down over Alaska fell onto frozen waters. They expect it to be recovered faster than the larger balloon downed over the Atlantic Ocean. Canadian forces are recovering the object shot down over the Yukon Territory.
((Veronica Balderas Iglesias, VOA News, Washington))
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