US Airspace Free From Intruders Over Past 48 Hours, According to Defense Secretary

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks to the media at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, on Jan. 20, 2023. (Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

There have been no new unidentified “objects” observed in U.S. airspace over the past 48 hours, the Pentagon said at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, following the NATO Defense Ministerial on Feb. 15.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin informed reporters that he was unaware of any additional unidentified flying objects discovered in U.S. airspace in the previous two days.

In less than two weeks, the United States has shot down four objects flying over its territory, a number that officials consider remarkable, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

Since the Feb. 4 downing of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. military has shot down three more objects over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canada’s Yukon on Feb. 10, 11, and 12.

Hunt For Wreckage

However, the Pentagon hasn’t confirmed that the three latest objects belonged to China’s spy programs.

Austin was asked by reporters how important it was to the Department of Defense that it recovers the wreckage to help decide policy for the future.

“We’re going to do everything we can to recover debris if it’s possible. That will help us learn a lot more about what these objects are,” Austin said.

The defense secretary added that the Pentagon was working with NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, and “everybody in the community who may have an interest in operating in this space,” to understand what the objects were.

“I would just tell you that the safety and security of the American people—that’s the thing that’s most important to me and to everybody on the DOD team and throughout the agency,” Austin said.

McConnell Criticizes Biden

“So we’re going to continue to drill until we learn as much as we can about what those objects are and why they were operating in those spaces.”

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spoke before the Senate on Feb. 13, criticizing the Biden administration for not providing more information about the objects.

The Republican leader said that the American people deserve to know if they are “benign science projects ... or something more nefarious.”

Japan’s defense ministry believes that Chinese spy balloons violated the nation’s airspace at least three times in recent years, as The Epoch Times reported.

The Pacific nation has been investigating past records for signs of incursion from China’s spy balloon program since the U.S. shootdown occurred.

The Department of Defense didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.