 Defense &
National Security |
Defense &
National Security |
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More questions than answers on UFOs |
It's still unclear what exactly the three unidentified flying objects (UFOs) shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace over the weekend were — and government officials are giving conflicting answers. |
The White House has a new leading theory on the origins of the UFOs: They were tied to some commercial or benign purpose. The Biden administration also made clear there is no known connection of the latest objects to China, which sent a massive spy balloon across the U.S. earlier this month. Senators left a classified briefing on Tuesday with very few answers to their questions. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) questioned why a company didn't come forward to claim the objects if they were commercial and noted the objects are still unidentified. "They're not at a stage where they're going to categorically identify them," Tillis said. "They're balloons, blimps, a number of other things." Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, also questioned the theory of commercial objects in an interview with The Hill. "Balloons are launched for a whole lot of different reasons. But if you are launching them for a legitimate reason, most of the time somebody knows about it," Smith said. "And nobody has claimed them, so it seems distinctly possible these things were up there for illegitimate reasons." Meanwhile, crews are working hard to recover the debris from the three UFOs shot down over Alaska, the Yukon in northwest Canada and Lake Huron in Michigan. You can read more about the reaction on Capitol Hill in The Hill's full report here. |
Welcome to The Hill's Defense & National Security newsletter, I'm Brad Dress — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. |
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How policy will affect defense and national security now and in
the future: |
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Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) will lead a Senate investigation into why it took so long for the Defense Department to detect Chinese spy balloons that floated over the United States this month and in previous years, revealing an embarrassing gap in the nation's air defenses. Tester says President Biden should have shot down a spy balloon that floated over his state before it ever passed over sensitive military installations … |
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| The U.S. military said it intercepted four Russian warplanes near Alaska on Monday. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it detected four Russian aircraft, including TU-95 BEAR-H bombers and SU-35 fighter aircraft, entering and operating within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), according to a Tuesday statement from the command. NORAD officials said they … |
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Artificial intelligence flew an aircraft based on an F-16 fighter jet for more than 17 hours, the first time that AI was used to fly a tactical aircraft. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said in a press release on Monday that its VISTA X-62A, a modified version of the F-16D Block 30 Peace Marble Il, made the flight in December as part of a series of tests. The release states that the VISTA, which stands for Variable In-flight … |
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The F-16 fighter jet sent to shoot down the aerial object over Lake Huron this weekend missed with its first missile, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley confirmed Tuesday. The "first shot missed, second shot hit," Milley told reporters following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. Asked whether the missile miss changes how the U.S. may go about downing the next aerial object … |
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Upcoming things we're watching on our beat: |
- The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to discuss global security challenges. Witnesses include Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former member of the National Security Council.
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday in the group's first meeting since October.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill: |
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Administration scrambles to quell Congress's frustration over balloon, UFOs |
Senior administration officials scrambled Tuesday to quell frustrations expressed by lawmakers about a lack of timely information concerning several flying objects and a Chinese spy balloon shot down over the past two weeks. In a classified briefing on Tuesday, the officials offered an update on … |
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Events in and around the defense world: |
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News we've flagged from other outlets: |
- Suspected Iranian weapons seized by U.S. Navy may go to Ukraine (Wall Street Journal)
- U.S. tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path (Washington Post)
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Two key stories on The Hill right now: |
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Senate Republicans are growing increasingly worried that a crowded 2024 presidential field could ease the path for former President Trump to once again … Read more |
| Residents of the small town of East Palestine, Ohio, are back in their homes this week following their evacuations over looming explosion fears after … Read more |
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Op-eds related to defense & national security submitted to The Hill: |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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