Business columnist at the Australian Newspaper Robert Gottliebsen says Australian fighter jet planes do not have the ability to shoot down a potential ‘spy balloon’ if there was one in Australian airspace.

The US military shot down a fourth ‘flying object’ on Sunday, near the Canadian border at an altitude of 20,000 feet.

“The first balloon flew at 65,000 feet and our main jet, the F35, its operating area is 35,000 feet – the US who has a big fleet of these F35’s did not use that aircraft,” Mr Gottliebsen told Gary Adshead.

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“What the balloon has done is show just how we are not up to it.”