U.S. senators will be getting a classified briefing this week on China in the wake of the takedown of a fourth unidentified object flying over U.S. airspace.
The briefing is set for Wednesday, The Hill reported, coming after the shooting down of a high-altitude object over Lake Huron on Sunday — the latest in a string of similar sightings and takedowns.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., first announced the briefing last weekend, shortly after a Chinese spy balloon was taken down off the Carolina coast.
Since then, however, three more unidentified objects have been downed by the U.S. military.
The first incident came Feb. 4, when officials say a suspected Chinese spy balloon crossed into U.S. airspace and was later downed by a U.S. fighter jet.
The second object was seen over Alaska on Thursday and shot down on Friday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered a third high-altitude object over the Central Yukon to be taken down on Saturday.
Department of Defense officials say the latest object was brought down about 15 miles off-shore from Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The House is out of session this week and all senators will get a classified briefing on China from the Pentagon.
Schumer on Sunday said officials believe the second and third objects were also spy balloons, though smaller than the first Chinese spy balloon.
The fourth object was flying at roughly 20,000 feet above Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, which is far lower than the previous three objects, The Hill reported.
"Its path and altitude raised concerns, including that it could be a hazard to civil aviation," the Pentagon said, the news outlet reported.
Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs on Sunday said the uptick in aerial objects being spotted — and shot down — could be because of enhanced radar systems, The Hill reported.
"In light of the People's Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday, we have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we've detected over the past week," she told reporters during a briefing, The Hill reported.
"As we learn more about these objects, and certainly the PRC balloon, we're going to enhance our understanding of the characteristics of them. That will perhaps enable us to look back at prior instances that were potentially overlooked," she added.