No threat to islands after US spots balloon over Hawaii

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The United States Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs has confirmed that a spherical object was spotted off the coast of Hawaii and was being monitored as it left the island’s territorial waters.

According to USINDOPACOM, the balloon was spotted on their radar on Friday. Pacific Air Forces launched three F-22s fighter aircraft to identify the object floating at about 36,000 feet over Hawaii.

After they assessed the object they decided it posed no threat to the military or physical threat to people on the ground.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense said in a statement that ownership of the balloon is unknown but there is no indication that it was being controlled.

OSD stated that as the balloon moved out of Hawaii’s airspace and territorial waters it did not fly directly over defense critical infrastructure or other U.S. government-sensitive sites.

Officials will, however, continue to track the balloon with the Federal Aviation Administration.