F-22s Intercepted “Spherical Object” Off Hawaii In Latest Balloon Chase
The first indications that something was afoot was last Friday when a C-17 was asked to divert to investigate something near Hawaii.
BY
HOWARD ALTMAN, JOSEPH TREVITHICK
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PUBLISHED MAY 1, 2023 8:44 PM EDT
F-22s Intercepted “Spherical Object” Off Hawaii In Latest Balloon Chase
The U.S. Air Force sent a trio of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters to intercept what was eventually assessed to be a balloon of unknown origin off the Hawaiian Islands last week. The U.S. military and the Federal Aviation Administration are continuing to track it in the Eastern Pacific. The Pentagon says it does not know who the owner of this balloon is, but that they do not believe it is "controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor" and added that it has not been assessed to pose a threat.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) confirmed the intercept and provided additional details about this recent balloon incident to The War Zone today. We had seen indications that something was brewing off of Hawaii last Friday and had reached out to Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), the top Air Force command in the region, and INDOPACOM at the time.
"U.S. Indo-Pacific Command responded to an unidentified radar signature Friday in the vicinity of the island of Hawaii. Pacific Air Forces launched three F-22s to assess the situation and visually identified a spherical object," a spokesperson for INDOPACOM told The War Zone in a statement. "We monitored the transit of the object and assessed that it posed no threat. As a part of our normal daily operations, we closely track all vessels and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific area of operations through a combination of joint capabilities to protect the U.S. homeland, support our Allies and partners and secure a free and open Indo-Pacific."
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/f-22s-intercepted-spherical-object-off-hawaii-in-latest-balloon-chase
