On Tuesday, John F. Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said that there are reasonable elements to consider the three unidentified flying objects shot down in recent days after the Chinese balloon case harmless. The balloon had been identified days ago in American airspace and also shot down: the US State Department had concluded that it had been sent from China and that it was equipped to carry out espionage activities. The three objects were shot down in the days immediately following by means of fighter jets sent by the American government: the fear was that they were other instruments sent by China, or perhaps by another government, to carry out espionage activities.
Kirby said that the investigations carried out so far have found no evidence of this, and that the objects could have been used “for commercial or research purposes” (he did not clarify in what sense, but the point is that their use was not deemed threatening to the United States). However, Kirby also said that all the debris of the three objects have not yet been found, which if analyzed could lead to different conclusions.
