By Kevin Zhang
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press release on Saturday that an “unidentified object” had been shot down by an American fighter jet over Canadian airspace with his authorization.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Trudeau said in a post on Twitter.
The object was “cylindrical” and small compared to the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over American waters last weekend, said Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand.
Later on Saturday, the White House confirmed that NORAD had authorization from both Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden to shoot down the object. The Pentagon added that the object was first spotted over Alaska on Friday evening.
Trudeau said that he spoke with Biden on Saturday and Canadian forces will be scrambled in an operation to recover the remains of the object.
The object shot down over the Yukon territory on Saturday marks the third time in one week that American aircraft have shot down an object in North American airspace. Saturday’s shoot-down follows the downing of another unidentified object over Alaska on Friday, and the downing of the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon on February 4 by another American F-22.
A statement from Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said the object shot down on Saturday was first spotted on radar on Friday evening. Two F-22 fighters were dispatched to “monitor the object”, and were joined by the Alaska Air National Guard and Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft. He added that the object was shot down over Canadian territory by a U.S. F-22 using an AIM 9X missile.
