Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has revealed that he ordered a US warplane to shoot down an unidentified flying object high over northern Canada, acting a day after US planes took similar action over Alaska.
The latest object was described as "small" and "cylindrical" by Canadian defence minister Anita Anand and was flying over central Yukon at about 40,000 ft, reports the BBC. Yesterday's object was also travelling at around 40,000ft (12,000m), but was described as being "the size of a small car" and as posing a "reasonable threat" to civilian aircraft.
Afterwards, the US temporarily shut down airspace over part of Montana as the Defense Department sent a fighter to investigate an “anomaly” spotted on radar.
Shortly before Mr Trudeau tweeted about the Yukon incident, the North American Aerospace Defence Command said it had detected an object flying at high altitude over Canada. Norad gave no further information, including when the object was first spotted or what it is.
A spokesman, Major Olivier Gallant, said both Canadian and US warplanes operating as part of Norad had been deployed. On Twitter, Mr Trudeau said: “I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object.”
The object was the third known to have violated North American airspace in the past two weeks. In a second tweet, Mr Trudeau said: “I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object. Thank you to Norad for keeping the watch over North America.”
A suspected Chinese spy balloon spent nearly a week flying through Canadian and US airspace before it was shot down by US warplanes last Sunday. The US military shot down a second object in Alaskan airspace on Friday, though authorities have not provided details on what it was.
According to US Northern Command, recovery operations continued on Saturday both near Deadhorse, Alaska, and off South Carolina.
In a statement, the Northern Command said there were no new details on what the object was that a US fighter jet shot down over Alaska. It said the Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, along with the FBI and local law enforcement, were conducting search and recovery.
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” the statement said. “Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice.”
It added that the Navy continued survey and recovery activities on the ocean floor off South Carolina, and the Coast Guard was providing security. Additional debris was pulled out on Friday, and additional operations will continue as weather permits, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily shut down airspace over part of Montana as the Defense Department sent a fighter to investigate an “anomaly” that was spotted on radar.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command [NORAD] said in a statement that the central Montana airspace was closed after it “detected a radar anomaly” but a jet that was sent up found nothing. “Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation,” the defense command said.
For stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
