The unidentified object shot down Sunday over Lake Huron was taken out by a group of airmen from the Air National Guard's 148th Fighter Wing, based in Duluth.

Gov. Tim Walz revealed the local link in a tweet Sunday evening, writing that he was "proud of the airmen."

"The Bulldogs executed their mission flawlessly, protected the homeland, and got the birds home safe," Walz wrote. The fighter jets set off from Madison, Wis., earlier Sunday on the federal mission, he tweeted.

President Joe Biden ordered the mission, the fourth downing of an airborne object over U.S. airspace in the last eight days. The Associated Press reported Sunday that the U.S. is on a "heightened alert" after a spy balloon from China was shot down over U.S. airspace in late January.

Pentagon officials have provided little information on the more recent objects shot down but said they aren't considered security threats.

The object shot down Sunday had been detected Saturday night over Montana and then on Sunday over Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Duluth-based fighter pilots shot it down with a missile while over Lake Huron, sending it plummeting into the lake.