The US military does not have new information on the country of origin or the physical or mechanical properties of the three objects downed over North America in the past three days, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of the US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, told reporters Sunday.
“I’m not going to categorize them as balloons. We’re calling them objects for a reason,” VanHerck said when asked about the physical characteristics of the objects.
“I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft. It could be a gaseous type of balloon inside a structure or it could be some type of a propulsion system. But clearly, they’re — they’re able to stay aloft,” he added.
VanHerck stressed that officials do not know the country of origin of the objects downed in recent days, distinguishing it from the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that the US military shot down off the coast of South Carolina last week.
“I would be hesitant and urge you not to attribute it to any specific country. We don’t know,” VanHerck said.
