Top US general not ruling out aliens behind flying objects

The US Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said on Sunday after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects that he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation yet, deferring to US intelligence experts.

Asked whether he had ruled out an extra-terrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by US warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything."

"At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it," said VanHerck, head of US North American Aerospace Defence Command and Northern Command. VanHerck's comments came during a Pentagon briefing on Sunday after a US F-16 jet shot down an octagonal-shaped object over Lake Huron on the US-Canada border.