On 12 February 2023, a US Air National Guard F-16 shot down an unidentified octagonal object over Lake Huron, near the Canada-United States border, with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile on the order of the President. It was the last of three objects brought down by US fighters in three days that month, following the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off South Carolina on 4 February.
The infrared clip PURSUE Release 02 labels DOW-UAP-PR071 is sensor footage of this intercept, showing the object fragmenting in a high-energy event at around the twenty-second mark. By late 2024, recovered debris and follow-up reporting had linked the object to commercial weather or monitoring equipment. The shootdown is confirmed; the object is not a confirmed mystery, and “UAP” in the clip’s title is the uploader’s word, not a government verdict.