US F-22 Fighter Jets Shoot Down Object Over Northern Canada

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that a U.S. fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” flying high over the Yukon on his orders, a day after the US did the same over Alaska.

According to US officials, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint US-Canada organization that provides shared airspace defense over the two countries, detected the object flying at a high altitude over Alaska on Friday evening. On Saturday, it entered Canadian airspace.

Trudeau spoke with US President Joe Biden, who also directed that the object be shot down. NORAD F-22 jets from the United States were scrambled and shot down the object.

Over seven days, F-22 fighter jets have destroyed three objects in the airspace above the United States and Canada, a stunning development that raises questions about what exactly is hovering overhead and who is sending them.

At least one downed object was considered a Chinese spy balloon, but the other two had not yet been publicly identified. While Trudeau described the object as “unidentified” on Saturday, Maj. Olivier Gallant, a NORAD spokesman, said the military had determined what it was but would not reveal details.

Canada’s Trudeau, who once stated his admiration for China’s ‘basic dictatorship, said that Canadian forces would recover the wreckage for investigation. The Yukon is Canada’s westernmost territory and one of the least populated.

Earlier that day, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said an object the size of a small car was shot out of the skies above remote Alaska. Officials could not determine whether it contained surveillance equipment, where it came from, or what purpose it served.

Kirby stated that it was shot down because it was flying at 40,000 feet (13,000 meters) and posed a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, not because it was suspected of spying.

According to the US Northern Command, recovery operations on sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska, continued on Saturday.

The Northern Command said in a statement that there were no new details on the object. The Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, along with the FBI and local law enforcement, were conducting search and recovery operations, according to the statement.

“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation,” the statement said.

On February 4, officials from the United States shot down a large white balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

According to the Pentagon, the balloon was part of a large surveillance program that China has been carrying for “several years,” according to the Pentagon. According to the United States, Chinese balloons have flown over dozens of countries on five continents in recent years, and the country learned more about the balloon program after closely monitoring the one shot down near South Carolina.

China responded by stating that it reserves the right to “take further actions” and chastised the United States for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”

The Navy continued to survey and recover operations on the ocean floor off the coast of South Carolina while the Coast Guard provided security. Additional debris was removed on Friday, and operations will continue as weather permits, according to Northern Command.