--- title: "Air Force Missed UFO With $400,000 Missile, Had to Use Another One" description: "An F-16 fighter jet was dispatched on Sunday to shoot down the fourth mysterious object to have mysteriously entered North American airspace, and missed." date: "2023-02-14" modified: "2023-02-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/air-force-missed-ufo-missile" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "fighter jets" - "missiles" - "the digest" - "ufos" --- # Air Force Missed UFO With $400,000 Missile, Had to Use Another One ![An F-16 fighter jet was dispatched on Sunday to shoot down the fourth mysterious object to have mysteriously entered North American airspace, and missed.]() *\Image: US Air Force/Futurism\* ## Hard to Miss It wasn't exactly a difficult shot. An F-16 fighter jet was dispatched by the US Air Force over Lake Huron on Sunday to shoot down [a mysterious object]() identified in North American airspace. As US officials admitted this week, the first Sidewinder missile fired by the jet somehow managed to miss its target, metaphorically sinking well over $400,000 in US taxpayer money in the lake below — an embarrassing showing, given that the target likely had no way of propelling itself. "First shot missed," US Army General Mark Milley told reporters during a press conference today, as [quoted by *Yahoo News*](). "The second shot hit." ## Debris Field The Pentagon did at least take plenty of safety precautions before shooting the UFO out of the sky, the fourth object to be spotted since a Chinese spy balloon was [discovered]() and [promptly shot down]() on February 4. "We determine what the debris field is likely to be with one of these platforms landing on the Earth's surface or in the water," Milley said. "We go to great lengths to make sure that the airspace is clear and the backdrop is clear out to the max effective range of the missile." "We tracked it all the way down, and we made sure that the airspace was clear of any commercial or civilian or recreational traffic," he added. ## Steep Bill Despite the precautions, the military has a steep bill to pay for missing its target. According to *Bloomberg*, the Department of Defense is [allocating $111.9 million]() of its 2023 budget for 255 AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, making each worth around $439,000. In other words, the military spent almost a million dollars worth of missiles to take out a barely moving and presumably uncrewed target, and that's not to mention the fact that an F-16 costs somewhere [between $14.6 and $18.8 million](), plus maintenance and fuel. The bungled response will likely draw even more questions. Let's just hope it was all worth it in the end. **READ MORE:** [U.S. says first missile shot at object above Lake Huron missed its target]() \[*Yahoo News*\] ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()