The unidentified flying object shot down by the United States military over Canada last week may have been identified, and not exactly a national security threat. A radio-equipped “pico balloon” launched by the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade went “missing in action” off the coast of Alaska right around the time the Pentagon announced they had downed a UFO in the same region with heat-seeking missiles, the group said. Such balloons can be purchased for as little as $13, the Chicago Tribune notes. Far from collecting sensitive intelligence about American military installations, hobbyists use radio signals to track pico balloons as they fly around the world, and K9YO—the missing balloon in question—had just finished its sixth circumnavigation. While officials in the Biden administration have conceded that the object they shot down may have served a “benign purpose,” they have thus far reported being unable to recover it. In the meantime, members of the NIBBB are trying to tamp down on speculation. “[Until the] object is confirmed to be an identifiable pico balloon, any assertions or claims that our balloon was involved in that incident are not supported by facts,” the organization said in a statement.
