Chinese spy balloon - live: US says 3 newly shot-down objects unlike China craft but rule out ‘alien’ activity

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that the recent spate of unidentified aerial objects that were shot down were not “aliens.”

“I just wanted to make sure we address this from the White House: I know there have been questions and concerns about this but there is no — again no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” she said.

Meanwhile, the US military has recovered “significant debris” from the downed Chinese “spy” balloon, according to its officials.

Admiral John Kirby said the objects shot down over the course of the last few days are not similar to the Chinese spy balloon, and it is currently unclear where they originated.

China has now accused the US of “illegally” flying spy balloons into its airspace, after the Pentagon shot down yet another “object” in the skies over Michigan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters Monday that the US has sent high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022.

This weekend, three objects have been shot down over Alaska, Canada and, lastly, Lake Huron in Michigan.

Key points

• US military says it has recovered ‘significant’ electronics from downed Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

• US military takes down fourth object in a month – this time above Lake Huron

• Extraterrestrials not ‘ruled out’ as authorities scrutinise airspace

• China accuses US of ‘illegally’ flying spy balloons into airspace

• John Kirby denies China’s accusation US is using spy balloons

• UK PM says fighter jets ready to shoot down Chinese spy balloons

UK fighter jets ready to shoot down any Chinese spy balloons, says Rishi Sunak

06:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Britain is ready to launch fighter jets to shoot down any spy balloons from China if they are found flying over the country, Rishi Sunak has suggested.

The prime minister indicated that the UK would not accept any Beijing spy missions in Britain’s airspace after four objects were shot down over the US by the American military.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace has ordered a security review, and fellow Tory minister Richard Holden said it was “possible” spy balloons have been deployed across UK airspace.

Mr Sunak said the government would do “whatever it takes” to protect the country when asked about the matter by broadcasters on Monday.

Adam Forrest reports:

UK fighter jets ready to shoot down any Chinese spy balloons, says Rishi Sunak

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has called on Joe Biden to address the “airborne objects” that have been shot down over the last week.

06:00 , Graig Graziosi

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has called on Joe Biden to address the “airborne objects” that have been shot down over the last week.

“In times of uncertainty, leaders need to be as transparent as possible with the public,” Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor from Maryland, tweeted Monday. “After shooting down three airborne objects, President Biden needs to communicate directly with the nation about what we know and what we don’t.”

Everything we know about the mysterious ‘objects’ shot down by US warplanes

05:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

US military fighter jets have been deployed four times within eight days to strike down a large suspected Chinese surveillance balloon and three smaller unidentified flying objects in the skies over Alaska, Lake Huron, and in the Yukon territory of Canada.

Recovery operations are underway in both countries, and military officials have not speculated publicly whether the incidents are connected.

For three days in a row, US military fighter jets brought down similar high-altitude objects, all within a week after a large airship, allegedly sent by China to spy on the US mainland, seized the national news agenda as it drifted across the country before it was destroyed off the coast of South Carolina.

Alex Woodward and Io Dodds report:

Everything we know about the ‘objects’ shot down by US warplanes

Secretary of State mulls meeting with China’s top diplomat

04:59 , Graig Graziosi

Secretary of State Antony Blinken may call for a meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, at a security conference later this week, according to Bloomberg.

The publication cited “people familiar with the matter.”

If the meeting happens, it will be the first face-to-face talk between the two since the Chinese “spy” balloon incident.

The statesmen’s meeting, if it happens, will take place at the Munich Security Conference beggining on 17 February, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

US military says it has recovered ‘significant’ electronics from downed Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

04:59 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The US military has recovered “significant debris” from the downed Chinese “spy” balloon, according to its officials.

The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a government spy vessel, flew over the US and Canada for a week before president Joe Biden ordered for it to be shot down on 4 February as it flew over the South Carolina coast.

A US fighter jet had downed the balloon and spurred the US military to begin salvage operations.

Stuti Mishra reports:

US military recovers ‘significant’ electronics from downed Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

‘We detected it’: Biden White House says Trump officials failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme

04:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Pressured by criticism from Republicans and questions from reporters about a sudden series of efforts to shoot down a Chinese surveillance balloon and several other unidentified craft, the Biden White House on Monday blamed the Trump administration for failing to detect similar craft in US airspace between 2017-2021.

A spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), John Kirby, stated at a press conference on Monday that the Chinese surveillance programme uncovered by the US this month was active during the Trump presidency. His remarks came in response to repeated questions about why the US military was apparently just now shooting down unidentified objects flying in US airspace.

John Bowden reports:

Biden White House says Trump’s team failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme

US military identified 163 ‘balloon or balloon-like entities’ in US airspace last year

04:00 , Graig Graziosi

A recently released report from the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office found that more than 160 “balloon or balloon-like objects” were witnessed and reported to US defense officials in 2022.

According to the report, pilots reported 163 of the balloon-like objects, as well as six pieces of airborne “clutter” and 26 drone sightings.

“The majority of new UAP reporting originates from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aviators and operators who witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties and reported the events to the UAPTF or AARO through official channels,” the report says.

Voices: Republicans to Biden: Tell us what you know about UFOs

03:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

GOP says it wants the White House to tell everything it knows. Democrats are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Eric Garcia writes:

Republicans to Biden: Tell us what you know about UFOs

MAP: The locations of the four flying objects that have been shot down

03:00 , Graig Graziosi

02:00 , Graig Graziosi

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that a ban on TikTok in the United States “should be looked at” as tensions with China escalate.

The Beijing-based company Bytedance owns the popular social media app. Former president Donald Trump explored the idea of banning TikTok and Republicans like Senator Josh Hawley have supported doing so.

“It’s something that should be looked at,” Mr Schumer said in an interview with ABC News. “We do know there’s Chinese ownership of the company that owns TikTok.”

Read more:

Chuck Schumer says GOP-led proposals to ban TikTok should be ‘looked at’

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says UFO/UAO office she helped created is rigorously investigating latest batch of aerial objects shot down

01:00 , Graig Graziosi

Senator Kirsten Gilibran noted on Twitter that it was legislation she championed and an agency she helped establish that may be why the US is suddenly much more sensative to UAOs/UFOs like the Chinese “spy” balloon that was shot down earlier this month.

She said the office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, would continue to “rigorously” investigate the objects that have been shot down over the last week.

Former prime minister of Singapore believes tension between US and China over balloons will ‘blow over'

00:00 , Graig Graziosi

George Yeo, the former prime minister of Singapore, said during a lecture the incident will eventually be viewed as only a “surface wound” and a “a blip in bilateral relations which will – pardon the pun – blow over eventually,” The South China Morning Post reports.

“Maybe the Chinese were trying their luck, and occasionally have one or two stray off course, and if they pick up something, well, it’s a bonus,” Mr Yeo told an audience at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Both the US and China are important trade partners for Singapore and Southeast Asia more generally.

Monday 13 February 2023 23:00 , Graig Graziosi

Astronomers have revealed that a Chinese satellite fired green laser beams over the US state of Hawaii – at a time when tensions are boiling over between Beijing and Washignton after several foreign objects including a Chinese spy balloon were shot down over the US in recent days.

Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) captured the mystery beams of light on video through its Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea back on 28 January.

Footage of the incident shows green laswer light beaming over the cloudy sky over Maunakea in Hawaii.

Read the full story here:

Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii

NATO secretary general says flying object incidents are ‘pattern’ of China spying on NATO allies

Monday 13 February 2023 22:00 , Graig Graziosi

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has responded to the spate of flying objects located over US airspace in recent days – and shot down by the American military.

In a press conference on Monday, Mr Stoltenberg said that it is part of a “pattern” of China and Russia spying on NATO allies as he urged vigilance.

“What we saw over the United States is part of a pattern where China and also Russia are increasing surveillance activities on NATO allies,” he said.

Justin Trudeau suggests ‘pattern’ between objects shot down

Monday 13 February 2023 21:20 , Graig Graziosi

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was a “pattern” between the objects that were shot down over North America over the last several days.

“Obviously there is some sort of pattern in there - the fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention,” he said.

Admiral John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said he could not comment on the assertion, saying he was unfamiliar with Mr Trudeau’s statement.

He said the objects shot down over the last several days were unlike the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier in January. Mr Kirby also said the origins of the three objects shot down over North America are still currently unknown.

White House rows back from idea three shot-down objects were part of China spy balloon programme

Monday 13 February 2023 21:00 , Graig Graziosi

The flying objects that have been downed by American and Canadian warplanes over the last few days do not appear to be related to the massive Chinese espionage airship that traversed American airspace earlier this month, the White House has said.

On Sunday, an American F-16 fighter shot down the latest of these unknown, unmanned craft above Lake Huron, near the maritime border the US shares with Canada.

The Defense Department said in a statement that the “airborne object” was brought down from an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet above sea level — well within the range of commercial jetliners — and stressed that the “path and altitude” of the object “raised concerns” that it could be a “hazard to civil aviation”.

Read more:

White House rows back from idea that shot-down objects were from China spy programme

John Kirby says Chinese spy balloon program was operational during Trump administration, but they ‘did not detect it’

Monday 13 February 2023 20:30 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, told reporters that a Chinese high altitude spy balloon program was known to defense officials during Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House, but noted that his administration failed to detect the objects.

“...But we were able to determine that China has a high-altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that’s connected to the People’s Liberation Army,” he said. “It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it.”

Mr Trump denied any balloons entered US airspace during his administration in a furious post on Truth Social.

“Now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the ‘heat’ off the slow moving Biden fools,” he wrote. “China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!”

Read more:

Biden White House says Trump’s team failed to detect Chinese army balloon programme

US Deputy Secretary of State says US not flying spy balloons over China

Monday 13 February 2023 20:00 , Graig Graziosi

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman said the US was not flying spy balloons over China, contradicitng claims made by Beijing that Washington was guilty of its own aerial surveillance.

“There are no US government balloons over the People’s Republic of China. None. Zero. Period,” she said, as reported by CNN’s Jennifer Hansler.

Chinese officials claimed the US had “illegally” flown surveillance balloons over the nation for a decade.

Mississippi state senator brushes off outcry over racist balloon tweet calling it ‘a joke'

Monday 13 February 2023 19:38 , Graig Graziosi

A Republican state senator from Mississippi has been called racist for a tweet he made referencing the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier this month.

The tweet includes a photo of a white balloon with the words “weather baroon, totary NOT for spying.”

The tweet was called racist for replacing the letter “l” with an “r,” referencing a stereotype of how Chinese accents sound while speaking English.

He brushed off the criticism, claiming to a local broadcaster that it was “just a joke.”

“It was a joke and it was blown way out of proportion,” he told WLOX. “It’s a sad day when we can’t be lighthearted.”

John Kirby says Biden to establish interagency team to study UAO surveillance capabilities

Monday 13 February 2023 19:20 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, told reporters on Monday that Joe Biden has ordered an interagency team to analyse potential national security threats posed by unidentified aerial objects.

The order comes in the wake of numerous take downs of UAOs across North America, including a Chinese spy balloon.

No evidence of ‘alien or extraterrestrial’ activity in shot-down objects, White House says

Monday 13 February 2023 19:00 , Graig Graziosi

The White House on Monday said the flying objects recently shot down over US and Canadian airspace were not any sort of alien spacecraft and did not appear to be espionage devices with any similarity to the Chinese airship that was downed by an American warplane off South Carolina earlier this month.

Speaking at the outset of the daily White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed what she described as “questions and concerns” about the objects that have been shot down over the US and Canada over the last few days.

“I just wanted to make sure we address this from the White House: I know there have been questions and concerns about this but there is no — again no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” she said.

Read more:

No sign of ‘alien or extraterrestrial’ activity in shot-down objects, US says

John Kirby says US used time Chinese spy balloon was over US land to ‘study it'

Monday 13 February 2023 18:50 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said the US knew “exactly” what the Chinese spy balloon was, and confirmed that it was not shot down immediately due to the potential threat the debris could cause to individuals on the ground.

He further said that the US used the time the balloon was land to “study it” because they knew it was a spy craft.

John Kirby says UAOs were not being maneuvered, were blown by the wind

Monday 13 February 2023 18:35 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said the unidentified aerial objects that have been shot down over the last several days were not being maneuvered.

Mr Kirby said the objects were being driven by the wind. He could not confirm where the recent objects came from, but said recovery efforts were the first step to learning more about the objects’ origins.

John Kirby says spy balloon was a threat to civilian air traffic

Monday 13 February 2023 18:27 , Graig Graziosi

Admiral John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, said the Biden administration has made expanding the US’s understanding of Chinese surveillance programs a priority, which helped lead to the discovery of Beijin’s spy balloon.

He said US defence officials were able to determine that China has a high altitude balloon program associated with People’s Liberation Army, and has been studying the program.

“PRC balloons have crossed over multiple countries across the world,” he said.

US defence forces have assessed that the balloons have provided limited additive capabilities to the PRC's other surveillance platforms.

He said that the balloons did not pose a threat to the public, but flew low enough to threaten commercial air traffic, noting that efforts are ongoing to recover the numerous objects that have been shot down over the last week.

Mr Kirby said the objects that have been shot down are in remote or otherwise inaccessible places and may be difficult to recover.

White House Press Secretary says ‘no evidence of aliens’

Monday 13 February 2023 18:23 , Graig Graziosi

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there was “no evidence” of aliens with the recent take downs of flying objects around North America.

"There’s been no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," she said, eliciting laughter from the gathered journalists.

She said just wanted to let the American public know because there has been confusion over the alien issue.

Admiral John Kirby thanked for "clearing that up" as he took the stage.

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan calls on Joe Biden to address ‘airborne objects'

Monday 13 February 2023 18:01 , Graig Graziosi

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has called on Joe Biden to address the “airborne objects” that have been shot down over the last week.

“In times of uncertainty, leaders need to be as transparent as possible with the public,” Larry Hogan, the former Republican governor from Maryland, tweeted Monday. “After shooting down three airborne objects, President Biden needs to communicate directly with the nation about what we know and what we don’t.”

Secretary of State mulls meeting with China’s top diplomat

Monday 13 February 2023 17:29 , Graig Graziosi

Secretary of State Antony Blinken may call for a meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, at a security conference later this week, according to Bloomberg.

The publication cited “people familiar with the matter.”

If the meeting happens, it will be the first face-to-face talk between the two since the Chinese “spy” balloon incident.

The statesmen’s meeting, if it happens, will take place at the Munich Security Conference beggining on 17 February, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

US military identified 163 ‘balloon or balloon-like entities’ in US airspace last year

Monday 13 February 2023 17:05 , Graig Graziosi

A recently released report from the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office found that more than 160 “balloon or balloon-like objects” were witnessed and reported to US defense officials in 2022.

According to the report, pilots reported 163 of the balloon-like objects, as well as six pieces of airborne “clutter” and 26 drone sightings.

“The majority of new UAP reporting originates from U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aviators and operators who witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties and reported the events to the UAPTF or AARO through official channels,” the report says.

MAP: The locations of the four flying objects that have been shot down

Monday 13 February 2023 16:10 , Graig Graziosi

Chuck Schumer says GOP-led proposals to ban TikTok should be ‘looked at’

Monday 13 February 2023 16:00 , Graig Graziosi

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that a ban on TikTok in the United States “should be looked at” as tensions with China escalate.

The Beijing-based company Bytedance owns the popular social media app. Former president Donald Trump explored the idea of banning TikTok and Republicans like Senator Josh Hawley have supported doing so.

“It’s something that should be looked at,” Mr Schumer said in an interview with ABC News. “We do know there’s Chinese ownership of the company that owns TikTok.”

Read more:

Chuck Schumer says GOP-led proposals to ban TikTok should be ‘looked at’

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says UFO/UAO office she helped created is rigorously investigating latest batch of aerial objects shot down

Monday 13 February 2023 15:40 , Graig Graziosi

Senator Kirsten Gilibran noted on Twitter that it was legislation she championed and an agency she helped establish that may be why the US is suddenly much more sensative to UAOs/UFOs like the Chinese “spy” balloon that was shot down earlier this month.

She said the office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, would continue to “rigorously” investigate the objects that have been shot down over the last week.

Former prime minister of Singapore believes tension between US and China over balloons will ‘blow over'

Monday 13 February 2023 15:20 , Graig Graziosi

George Yeo, the former prime minister of Singapore, said during a lecture the incident will eventually be viewed as only a “surface wound” and a “a blip in bilateral relations which will – pardon the pun – blow over eventually,” The South China Morning Post reports.

“Maybe the Chinese were trying their luck, and occasionally have one or two stray off course, and if they pick up something, well, it’s a bonus,” Mr Yeo told an audience at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Both the US and China are important trade partners for Singapore and Southeast Asia more generally.

Chinese satellite fires green laser beams over Hawaii as tensions escalate over spy balloon

Monday 13 February 2023 15:00 , Rachel Sharp

Astronomers have revealed that a Chinese satellite fired green laser beams over the US state of Hawaii – at a time when tensions are boiling over between Beijing and Washignton after several foreign objects including a Chinese spy balloon were shot down over the US in recent days.

Scientists at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) captured the mystery beams of light on video through its Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on Mauna Kea back on 28 January.

Footage of the incident shows green laswer light beaming over the cloudy sky over Maunakea in Hawaii.

Read the full story here:

US denies flying spy balloons over China airspace as Beijing looks to shoot down ‘object’ by naval base

Monday 13 February 2023 14:40 , Rachel Sharp

The United States has denied China’s accusations that it has flown spy balloons in Chinese airspace.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday alleged that the US has been using surveillance balloons on other countries “illegally”, and that 10 such objects have been detected crossing Chinese airspace in the past year alone.

It comes after the US military downed a Chinese-made airship off the coast of South Carolina, and alleged that Beijing had for years been carrying out a wide-scale surveillance programme using high-altitude balloons.

Read more here:

NATO secretary general says flying object incidents are ‘pattern’ of China spying on NATO allies

Monday 13 February 2023 14:20 , Rachel Sharp

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has responded to the spate of flying objects located over US airspace in recent days – and shot down by the American military.

In a press conference on Monday, Mr Stoltenberg said that it is part of a “pattern” of China and Russia spying on NATO allies as he urged vigilance.

“What we saw over the United States is part of a pattern where China and also Russia are increasing surveillance activities on NATO allies,” he said.

Object over Lake Huron likely passed by sensitive military sites and posed surveillance threat, Pentagon says

Monday 13 February 2023 14:00 , Alex Woodward

A statement from the US Department of Defense on Sunday evening reported that President Joe Biden acted on guidance from military officials to shoot down the object that was flying at about 20,000 feet above Lake Huron.

Officials also confirmed that the object was likely the same that was picked up as a radar anomaly over Montana on Saturday night, when the object was “in proximity to sensitive [Department of Defense] sites,” the statement said.

“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities,” it continued.

NORAD tracked the object on Sunday morning, and an F-16 jet fired a single Sidewinder missile at about 2.24pm ET.

“Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation,” according to the statement.

Taking it down over the lake avoided “impact to people on the ground while improving chances for debris recovery,” the Pentagon said.

“There are no indications of any civilians hurt or otherwise affected,” the statement added.

Federal agencies are now working to recover the debris.

China has flown dozens of military balloons into Taiwan’s airspace, report says

Monday 13 February 2023 13:40 , Rachel Sharp

China has flown dozens of military “spy” balloons in Taiwanese airspace over many years, said a new report citing top officials, with the latest incursion alleged to have occurred just a few weeks ago.

Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed the presence of balloons in an incident in February last year, when multiple Chinese balloons in four batches were seen hovering over the island’s north.

“They come very frequently, the last one just a few weeks ago,” a senior Taiwanese official was quoted by the Financial Times as saying in a report published on Monday. Such incursions were happening on average once a month, according to the report.

The Independent’s Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more:

China has flown dozens of military balloons into Taiwan’s airspace, report says

WATCH: What we know so far about the ‘flying objects’ over US airspace

Monday 13 February 2023 13:20 , Rachel Sharp

Montana Democrat calls balloon incidents 'nothing short of craziness'

Monday 13 February 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward

Democratic US Senator Jon Tester of Montana, who led a Senate panel on Thursday probing the Chinese surveillance balloon, said on Sunday that the Biden administration and US military need to “have a policy” about unidentified objects in US airspace to recommend to the president to swiftly handle any future incursions.

“What’s been going on the last … 10 days has been nothing short of craziness,” he told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday. “The military needs to have a plan to not only determine what’s out there, but determine the dangers that go with it.”

US denies China’s accusation over spy ballooons

Monday 13 February 2023 12:40 , Rachel Sharp

The US has denied China’s accusation that it has been flying spy balloons over its airspace – after Beijing claimed there had been at least 10 incidents since January 2022.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters Monday that the US has been “illegally” sending high-altitude balloons into its airspace.

Mr Wenbin gave no evidence, coming after China said it planned to shoot down an unidentified object flying close to a major naval base in Qingdao.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby denied the sccusation in an interview with MSNBC on Monday morning.

“Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true,” he said.

“We are not flying balloons over China.”

UK fighter jets ready to shoot down any Chinese spy balloons, says PM Rishi Sunak

Monday 13 February 2023 12:20 , Rachel Sharp

Britain is ready to launch fighter jets to shoot down any spy balloons from China if they are found flying over the country, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has suggested.

The prime minister indicated that the UK would not accept any Beijing spy missions in Britain’s airspace after four objects were shot down over the US by the American military.

Mr Sunak said the government would do “whatever it takes” to protect the country when asked about the matter by broadcasters on Monday.

The PM said: “I want people to know that we will do everything it takes to keep the country safe. We have something called the Quick Reaction Alert Force which involves Typhoon planes which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our air space.”

Read the breaking story here:

UK fighter jets ready to shoot down any Chinese spy balloons, says Rishi Sunak