The picture shared by Doug Mastriano

Doug Mastriano, a US army veteran and Republican member of the Pennsylvania Senate, later claimed he was joking after he posted the image of the TIE fighter to X, formerly Twitter.

“It is inconceivable that the federal government has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones,” he wrote.

“The fecklessness of this administration was on display last year when a Chinese surveillance balloon was allowed to fly over the entire continental United States before being shot down.

“Such should be viewed as a threat to our nation and citizens and action is long overdue. We have recourses and assets in our arsenal to get answers, but I suppose Ukraine is more important to the White House.”

Referencing the date of Donald Trump’s inauguration, he added: “January 20th can’t come soon enough.”

After X users questioned him, Mr Mastriano – known for his far-right and conspiratorial views – claimed he was joking.

He went on to blame the “corrupt media” for having “fabricated a story out of this sarcasm”.