The US believes that the flying objects shot down over North American airspace on Friday and Saturday were balloons, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Washington has been on high alert since its military destroyed a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month.
While he didn’t say specifically that the two latest objects were Chinese, Mr Schumer told ABC on Sunday that Beijing was likely using a “crew of balloons” that had “probably been all over the world”.
Responding to queries about Schumer’s remarks, a spokesperson for the US Department of Defense said the latest two objects “did not closely resemble” the original balloon. and were much smaller, Reuters reported.
Three objects have been shot down over North America in the past week.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the latest object was shot down on Saturday over the Yukon in north-west Canada.
Both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track the object, which Mr Trudeau said had “violated Canadian airspace”. It was taken out by a US F-22 fighter jet.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Trudeau said recovery teams were on the ground trying to find the object and that there was still “much to know”.
Separately, on Friday, the American military shot down an object the size of a small car off Alaska.
