US President Joe Biden, speaking on February 16, said the United States had shot down three “unidentified aerial objects” over US and Canadian airspace in recent days after the downing of a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon on February 4.However, there was no indication that the objects belonged to China or any other country, the president said.“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program, or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Biden said. “The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” he said.Biden said that there had been no “sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky,” but said more were being spotted due to changes in radar use.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was consulted before the objects were shot down, the president said. Both the US and Canadian militaries were looking for debris to analyze the objects further, he added.“We’ll update the rules and regulations for launching and maintaining unmanned objects in the skies above the United States of America,” Biden said, adding that the US will aim to “establish common global norms in this largely unregulated space.”The president said he made “no apologies” for shooting down the Chinese balloon. Credit: The White House via Storyful