The Lake Huron Shootdown of February 12, 2023 was the AIM-9X Sidewinder downing of an unidentified high-altitude object over Lake Huron by a USAF F-16C with callsign aesir11. The event came within a broader February 2023 wave of U.S./Canadian shootdowns of high-altitude objects following the Chinese spy-balloon incident.
In an April 27, 2026 presentation at the center-for-naval-analyses, former aaro director sean-kirkpatrick characterized the Lake Huron object — and the broader early-2023 shootdown series — as hobbyist balloons.
The AESIR11 in-cockpit footage was previewed for pursue Release 02 (src-debrief-pursue-next-batch-preview-2026-05) and actually released on May 22, 2026 as part of Release 02 — per Newsweek (Castro & Robinson, src-newsweek-pursue-release-02-2026-05), the footage is framed as “one of the clearest military engagement clips” in the PURSUE archive, assembled by aaro in response to lawmaker requests. The release closes a long-standing War Zone non-release critique (src-twz-pursue-shrug-2026-05).
Sources
- src-debrief-pursue-next-batch-preview-2026-05
- src-newsweek-pursue-release-02-2026-05 — actual Release 02 footage publication
- src-nbc-pursue-firsthand-encounters-2026-05 — NBC notes the 2023 Lake Huron downing among released Release 02 videos; recovery status unclear from the footage