PM says new high-rise object shot down over Canada

OTTAWA, Ontario – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said On Saturday, on his orders, a U.S. fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” that was flying high over the Yukon, one day after the U.S. took a similar action over Alaska.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint US-Canadian organization that provides joint defense of the two countries’ airspace, said it detected an object flying at high altitude over northern Canada. It was not immediately clear how high he was flying and what it was.

Trudeau said he also spoke with President Joe Biden, who himself ordered the downing of an unidentified object over remote Alaska on Friday.

NORAD spokesman Major Olivier Gallant said both Canadian and US aircraft operating under NORAD were deployed. The planes were blown up and shot down by an American plane.

While Trudeau described the object as “unidentified,” Gallant said the military determined what it was, but did not release further details.

F-22 fighters shot down three objects in the airspace over the US and Canada in seven days, a stunning event in the skies that raises questions about what exactly hovered overhead and who sent them.

At least one of the downed objects was thought to be a spy balloon from China, but the other two have not yet been publicly identified. Trudeau said Canadian forces would retrieve the wreckage for study. The Yukon, where it was shot down, is Canada’s westernmost territory and the least populated part of Canada.

The fall comes a day after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said an object about the size of a small car had been hit in remote Alaska. Officials could not say if it contained any surveillance equipment, where it came from, or for what purpose.

Kirby said he was shot down because he was flying at about 40,000 feet and posed a “reasonable threat” to civilian flight safety, not because he knew he was doing surveillance.

Recovery work continued on the sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska, on Saturday, according to the US Northern Command.

The Northern Command said in a statement that there were no new details about what the object was. It says Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, along with the FBI and local law enforcement, are conducting a search and recovery.

“Arctic weather conditions, including cold winds, snow and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation and personnel will adjust recovery operations to ensure safety,” the statement said.

Last Saturday, US officials shot down a large white balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

The balloon was part of a large surveillance program that China has been running for “several years,” the Pentagon said. The US said Chinese balloons have flown over dozens of countries on five continents in recent years, and it learned more about the balloon program after carefully observing one shot down near South Carolina.

China responded that it reserved the right to “take further action” and criticized the US for “an apparent overreaction and a serious breach of international practice.”

The Navy continued to search and rescue the ocean floor off the coast of South Carolina, while the Coast Guard provided security. Additional debris was removed on Friday and additional operations will continue weather permitting, the Northern Command said.