Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he ordered a US military aircraft to shoot down an “unidentified object” flying in Canadian airspace, just a day after one was shot down over Alaska.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), the joint US-Canadian unit responsible for jointly protecting the two countries’ airspace, spotted a cylindrical object flying at high altitude over Alaska Friday night before crashing into it and entering airspace on Saturday. space of Canada.
Both Mr. Trudeau and US President Joe Biden gave the order to shoot down the object, after which the Canadian and American planes were torn apart, and the American plane was hit by a missile.
Mr Trudeau confirmed the action on Twitter, writing: “I ordered the downing of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. The Norad command shot down a target over the Yukon.
“Canadian and American aircraft got mixed up, and the American F-22 successfully strafed the target.”
He added that Canadian troops will now “recover and analyze the wreckage of the facility” and thanked Norad for “watching North America.”
This is the third unidentified flying object that F-22 fighter jets have taken to the skies over the US and Canada over the course of seven days. At least one of them is a spy balloon from China, but the other two have not been publicly identified.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said the object, which was flying at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, was shot down at 3:41 pm local time about 100 miles from the Canada-US border in the center of Yukon, Canada’s westernmost territory, and by Canadian forces. . and now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have found him.
She said it looked like “a small cylindrical object, smaller than the one that was shot down off the coast of North Carolina.”
Gen. Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defense Staff, said the instructions to the Jets were: “Whoever can take the balloon apart first and best is allowed to go ahead.”
Major Olivier Gallant, spokesman for Norad, said the military has now determined what it was, but would not release details.
Hours later, the US Federal Aviation Administration said it closed part of Montana’s airspace after a “radar anomaly” was discovered and military planes were sent to investigate.
Norad said that no objects related to radar information were found.
Just a day earlier, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said an object the size of a small car had been shot down from the sky over a remote area of Alaska.
Kirby said he was shot down because he was flying at about 12,000 feet and posed a “reasonable threat” to civilian flight safety, not because he knew he was doing surveillance.
The object was retrieved from sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska, according to US Northern Command.
On February 4, a large white balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
The balloon was part of a surveillance program that China had been running for “several years,” the Pentagon said. In recent years, Chinese hot air balloons have flown over dozens of countries on five continents.
China said it was a “civilian research vessel” and reserved the right to “take further action” and also criticized America for “blatant overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”
The Pentagon said a significant portion of the balloon has already been retrieved or located.
Source: I News
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