Pentagon addresses shootdowns of aerial objects: 'Not a threat'

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday addressed a recent string of incidents involving unidentified aerial objects and their military shootdowns.

Austin asserted in a press conference that the Pentagon would ultimately figure out what these objects are, as well their origins, but claimed Washington was currently in the dark.

"They do not present a military threat to anyone on the ground. They do however present a risk to civil aviation and potentially an intelligence collection threat. And we'll get to the bottom of it," he said, per Fox News. 

Aerial incursions into U.S. airspace have become a hot button issue in recent weeks following the high-profile trip of a suspected Chinese spy balloon across the United States before the military ultimately shot it down off the coast of the Carolinas.

The military has since shot down what some believe to be two smaller balloons over Alaska and Canada and downed a fourth object over Lake Huron on Sunday that has yet to be identified.

Authorities are working to recover the remains of the downed aerial intruders for identification purposes. Speculation on social media, some serious and some sarcastic, has arisen that these objects may be of extra-terrestrial origins. No evidence exists to corroborate that theory as of press time.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.