- DAILY MAIL - JOSH BOSWELL and CHRIS SHARP FOR DAILYMAIL.COM - MAR 27, 2023 -
The Pentagon has admitted to DailyMail.com that it has images or video of 'UFOs' shot down over North America – but says they're still classified.
Pentagon officials said they have footage of objects shot down over Alaska
Officials told DailyMail.com they could not release the images and said they had no timeline as to when or if the images of the wreckage would be available
The withholding is in stark contrast to the speedy release of information that came when an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down near South Carolina
A Defense Department spokesman said they have footage of the three unidentified objects shot out the sky by US fighter jets using sidewinder missiles last month.
But the videos are classified and there are no plans to change that, the spokesman said.
'I can tell you that there is not currently any images or video footage that we can release,' the Pentagon press officer told DailyMail.com.
'The imagery remains classified, and I have not received any information as to the potential timeline on a change in classification.'
The refusal to hand over the images is in stark contrast to the speedy release of a photo taken by an Air Force pilot of an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down off the East coast at the same time as the 'UFOs'.
The Pentagon was also quick to release a video of a Russian jet colliding with a US drone flying over the Black Sea last on March 14.
The Chinese balloon was shot down over the South Carolina coast on February 4. The three unidentified objects met the same fate between February 10 and 12 over Alaska, Lake Huron in Michigan, and Canada's Yukon territory.
The reluctance to release footage of the F-22 Raptors intercepting the unidentified objects has led to speculation that the government knows what the objects are, but is simply embarrassed to reveal it to the public – as they may have been as harmless as a hobbyist weather balloon.
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade say their $13 hobby balloon was floating in the Yukon area and stopped transmitting around the same time that a Raptor fired on the unidentified object there.
'When I heard that [it was a] silver object with a payload attached to it, that could be one of our balloons,' a member told Politico.
Senior Republican Ted Cruz mocked President Biden over the possibility, tweeting that he is providing 'powerful deterrence for any high school science clubs that might try to invade America.'
On February 14, Senator Josh Hawley tweeted: 'Joe Biden let a Chinese spy balloon cross the entire U.S. Now he's shooting down everything that flies. Why? Who knows. He apparently doesn't. Either the Biden administration is lying to us or they're totally and completely incompetent. Or both.'