The U.S. government shut down airspace over northern Lake Michigan for a brief time Sunday, shortly before a military fighter jet shot down an object over Lake Huron.
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman said on Twitter that the U.S. had “decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron,” and thanked fighter pilots for their “decisive action.”
The Republican Congressman represents most of northern lower Michigan and the entire Upper Peninsula.
The airspace closure over Lake Michigan was brief — a little under two hours, according to The Detroit News.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Lansing, also wrote about the incident on Twitter, saying she'll "continue to ask for Congress to get a full briefing based on our exploitation of the wreckage."
Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport switched traffic to different runways, but flight schedules were not significantly affected, airport spokesperson Susan Wilcox Olson told IPR News.
Sunday's incident follows the downing of a high-altitude balloon carrying surveillance equipment from China earlier this month off the coast of South Carolina, and the shoot-down of another object floating above northern Alaska. A third object was shot down over the Yukon Territory, in Canada.
Officials recovered the aftermath of the Chinese balloon that was downed over the Atlantic, and were searching for wreckage from the object near Alaska, which was believed to have landed on the frozen Arctic Ocean.
This is a developing story.