UK plans security review after spate of mysterious objects over America

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The UK will conduct a security review after the appearance of a series of mysterious objects – including a suspected Chinese spy balloon – over North and South America in recent days, the defence secretary Ben Wallace has announced.

It comes after US fighter jets shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday – the fourth similar object to enter US or Canadian airspace in just over a week.

“The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse,” Wallace said on Monday.

On Sunday, the US military shot down the fourth flying object, with the air force general overseeing North American airspace indicating he would not yet rule out any explanation for the objects.

The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan. It is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. It was struck by an air-to-air missile launched by F-16 fighter jets on 4 February, it had been flying across the Great Lakes region at 20,000ft, a height that could have posed a risk to civilian aircraft.

The Pentagon said the object appeared to have travelled near US military sites and posed a threat to civilian aviation, as well as being a potential tool for surveillance.

Beijing insisted the first balloon shot down by the US after crossing its airspace was being used solely for meteorological purposes. But Washington has dismissed this, suspecting it was a spy craft. And the Telegraph reported that the UK’s defence review will show whether or not changes to surveillance of British airspace are necessary to protect against similar craft.

It came as UK transport minister Richard Holden said it was possible that Chinese spy balloons had been deployed over the UK. Asked on Sky News whether it was possible that “Chinese spy balloons have already been used over the UK”, Holden said: “It is possible.

“It is also possible, and I would think likely, that there would be people from the Chinese government trying to act as a hostile state.”

He added: “I think we have to be realistic about the threat these countries pose to the UK.”

Alicia Kearns, the chair of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said: “British airspace is protected by an exceptional quick reaction force, which has proved itself very capable against unknown and hostile aircraft.

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“The US will share with us and Five Eyes allies its conclusions on the capabilities of the Chinese balloons, and at that point an internal review of our ability to identify, track, disrupt and destroy these balloons will be undertaken.”

Wallace has previously said he would have reacted to the first balloon in the same way as the Pentagon did, had it appeared in British skies.

That one was followed almost a week later – on Friday – by another object; an unknown “car-sized” object flying in US airspace off the coast of Alaska that the US military again shot down.

The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that he ordered a US warplane to shoot down an unidentified object that was flying high over northern Canada.

On Sunday, a further unidentified object was shot down with a missile by US fighter jets over Lake Huron.