The binational organisation protecting US and Canadian airspace has shot down another “high-altitude airborne object” over northern Canada, one day after another similar object was observed and downed near Alaskan waters, and a week after the US military brought down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast.Another ‘high-altitude airborne object’ shot down over Canada.
An American F-22 Raptor fighter jet shot down the object on Saturday, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Pentagon said that the object was first observed in Alaska the night before, and military officials closely tracked it.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” he announced. “[North American Aerospace Defense Command] shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object.”
Mr Trudeau also said he spoke with President Joe Biden on the matter. Canadian military will begin a recovery operation and investigation, according to the prime minister. Another ‘high-altitude airborne object’ shot down over Canada.
Earlier on Saturday, Norad had “positively identified a high-altitude airborne object over Northern Canada,” according to a statement from the US military’s Northern Command and Norad.
“While we cannot discuss specifics related to these activities at this time, please note that Norad conducts sustained, dispersed operations in the defence of North America through one or all three Norad regions,” Norad announced.
The object shot down was “small” and “cyndrical” flying at 40,000 feet and “posed a reasonable threat” to civilian aircraft, according to Canada’s Defence Minister Anita Anand.
It was 100 miles from the US-Canada border in Canadian territory in central Yukon.
“To our knowledge, this is the first instance of Norad downing an object in Canadian airspace, and the importance of this moment should not be underestimated,” Ms Anand said during a Saturday evening briefing.“We detected this object together and we defeated this together,” she added.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement on Saturday evening that President Biden authoritsed the F-22 to work with Canada to take down the craft – which was first observed over Alaska on Friday night.
“Two F-22 aircraft from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska monitored the object over US airspace with the assistance of Alaska Air National Guard refueling aircraft, tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object,” Mr Ryder said.
