Cruz responds after Biden allegedly allowed a $200 million fighter jet to shoot down a $12 science balloon

Senator Ted Cruz on Thursday criticized President Joe Biden for ordering an F-22 fighter jet to shoot down what may have been an interest club science project off the coast of Alaska early last week.

Cruz, Texas joked that Biden’s decision to allow a $200 million fighter jet to use a $400,000 rocket to shoot down what could have been a $12 balloon serves as a “powerful deterrent” to high school students interested in building their own air balloon. ball. home science balls.

The comment comes after the Illinois-based Northern Illinois Balloon Club (NIBBB) said their picosonde, which was sailing off the west coast of Alaska, went missing the same day a Lockheed Martin plane shot down an unidentified object matching its description.

“Honestly, Biden provides a powerful deterrent to any high school science clubs that might try to invade America….” Cruz wrote about this on Twitter.

FIRST US MILITARY SHOT AT UNKNOWN OCTAGONAL OBJECT ABOVE LAKE HURON PROMAL, OFFICIALS SAID

Split photo of President Biden and F-22 Raptor.

Split photo of President Biden and F-22 Raptor. (Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The club’s circumnavigation balloon, last reported hovering at 38,910 feet on Feb. 10, may have been one of three unidentified aerial objects that the US Air Force shot down from the sky under presidential authorization between Feb. 10 and 2019. 12.

The group stated that on February 11, its trajectory was directly over the central Yukon Territory, where an object was shot down from the sky.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also said that the objects shot down on February 10-12 may not have been from China or another foreign country, but “may be just balloons.”

“I can confirm that the Department of Defense has been monitoring a high-altitude object over Alaska airspace for the past 24 hours. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a real threat to the safety of civilian flights. “Out of great caution and advice from the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to shoot down the facility. And they did. And he’s entered our territorial waters,” Kirby added during Friday’s press briefing at the White House.

ILLINOIS HOBBY CLUB FEARS ITS BALLOON HAS BEEN SHOT BY US AIR FORCE; NORAD ANSWERS

On Wednesday, an Illinois amateur club said its balloon was “missing” but does not definitively blame the US Air Force.

After a Chinese observation balloon flew over the US mainland, subsequent objects floating over the country have baffled the Biden administration.

In this photo courtesy of Brian Branch, a large hot air balloon drifts over the Kingston, North Carolina area with the aircraft and its contrail visible below.

In this photo courtesy of Brian Branch, a large hot air balloon drifts over the Kingston, North Carolina area with the aircraft and its contrail visible below. (Brian Branch via AP)

However, members of the pico balloon community predicted that these could be educational pico balloons.

“I’ve been trying to get in touch with our military and the FBI – and just got a bounce back – to try and enlighten them about what a lot of these things are probably. And they won’t look too smart to shoot them.” – Ron Meadows , founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), told Aviation Week.

US President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on February 16, 2023 in Washington, DC.

US President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House on February 16, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WHITE HOUSE STATES CHINA’S CLAIMS THAT THE US HAD BALLOONS FLIGHTED OVER ITS AIRSPACE 10 TIMES IN THE LAST YEAR ARE “FALSE”

Tom Medlin, a retired FedEx engineer and co-host of the Amateur Radio Roundtable, added, “I’m guessing it was pico balloons.”

A weather balloon flies over Sterling, Virginia.

A weather balloon flies over Sterling, Virginia. (Benjamin S. Tankersley/for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Small pico balloons usually cost between $12 and $180. According to Aviation Week, they often carry an 11g tracker with HF and VHF/UHG antennas to update their position as they travel the world.

The F-22 Raptor, which has been called “the best air superiority fighter in the world”, is valued at around $200 million. Adding research and development costs, manufacturers will need $350 million to build the F-22, according to Reuters.

President Biden is expected to ask Congress next month for the largest defense budget in US history.

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NORAD told Fox News Digital that the FBI has spoken to the interest club and expects the NSC to provide more accurate information soon.

Bradford Betz of Fox News contributed to this report.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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