U.S. politicians push for answers as another mysterious object is blasted out of sky, this time above Lake Huron

As U.S. fighter jets shot down more suspicious objects zooming above North America over the weekend, officials tried to figure out what they were doing in the sky in the first place — and just how far China has taken its aerial surveillance program.

Attack planes blasted an object flying over Lake Huron, which lies on the U.S.-Canada border, on Sunday. On Saturday, an object was shot down over the Yukon, and another downed on Friday off Alaska’s coast.

Air Force and National Guard pilots did Sunday’s strike, according to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

“Great work by all who carried out this mission both in the air and back at headquarters,” she tweeted. “We’re all interested in exactly what this object was and [its] purpose.”

The actions came after the U.S. downed a suspected Chinese spying balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month, prompting harsh words from Washington and denials from Beijing.

Officials were yet to link the latest flying objects to China as of Sunday, as workers tried to recover debris from the blast sites.

“The military and … intelligence are focused like a laser on, first, gathering and accumulating the information, then coming up with a comprehensive analysis of what went on before, what’s going on now, and what could go on in the future,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Recent days’ blaring balloon headlines have taken lawmakers by surprise.

In the aftermath of the first incident, the detection of Chinese balloons during the Trump administration came to light. Those incursions were not picked up right away, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of the Pentagon’s Northern Command, said last week.

“It is wild that we didn’t know,” Schumer said. “Now they are learning a lot more.”

Some Republicans initially faulted President Biden for taking several days to have the first balloon blasted out of the sky. The White House said it had to wait until the object had flown across the U.S. and debris wouldn’t pose a threat to people below.

“I would prefer them to be trigger-happy than to be permissive,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“But we’re going to have to see whether or not this is just the administration trying to change headlines,” he added. “What I think this shows, which is probably more important to our policy discussion here, is that we really have to declare that we’re going to defend our airspace.”

Schumer noted the objects down on Friday and Saturday were smaller than the first one, which was about the size of three school buses. They also flew at lower altitudes than the first balloon, officials said.

Both objects shot down Friday and Saturday had some kind of payload, according to intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Details about the object blasted Sunday were not immediately known.

“The US military has decommissioned another ‘object’ over Lake Huron,” tweeted Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.). “I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots. The American people deserve far more answers than we have.”

U.S. officials were quick to blame China for the balloon shot down at a height of roughly 60,000 feet above ground level. Secretary of State Antony Blinken indefinitely postponed a trip to China as part of the response.

Beijing insisted the object was a harmless weather balloon and accused Washington of “overreacting.”

The baffling balloons come as U.S.-China tensions have been increasing. Biden recently announced an increased military presence in the Philippines as China menaces Taiwan.

“In an absence of information, people will fill that gap with anxiety and other stuff,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I wish the administration was a little quicker to tell us everything that they do know.”

With News Wire Services