() — An unidentified object was shot down over northern Canada on Saturday, marking the third time in a week that US warplanes have shot down objects in US airspace.
On Friday, an unidentified object was shot down in Alaskan airspace by an American F-22, and last weekend, an F-22 shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
There are no indications at this time that the unidentified objects have any connection to China’s surveillance globe, but it appears that national security officials across the continent remain on edge. Airspace was briefly closed over Montana before being quickly reopened late Saturday after a radar anomaly prompted a plane to investigate before the all-clear was given.
This is what we know so far
The unidentified object that was shot down in Canadian airspace had been tracked since Friday night, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder.
The object was detected by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and two F-22 fighter jets from Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson, Alaska, were dispatched to monitor the object with the help from the Alaska Air National Guard.
The object appears to be a “cylindrical object” smaller than the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down earlier, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said at a news conference on Saturday.
“Monitoring continued today as the object crossed Canadian airspace, with Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joining the formation to further assess the object,” Ryder’s statement said.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, approved the demolition this Saturday, according to a statement from the White House.
“President Biden authorized US warplanes assigned to NORAD to conduct the operation, and a US F-22 shot down the object on Canadian soil in close coordination with Canadian authorities,” the White House statement said. “Leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object to determine more details about its purpose or origin.”
The object was shot down with an AIM-9X missile from a US F-22, the same missile and aircraft that shot down an unidentified object on Friday and the Chinese surveillance balloon on February 4.
“The object was flying at an altitude of approximately 12,000 meters, had illegally entered Canadian airspace, and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights. The object was shot down approximately 100 miles from the Canada-United States border over Canadian territory in central Yukon,” he stated.
Ryder’s statement said that while Canadian authorities conduct recovery operations, the FBI “will work closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
The third shootdown for US planes in a week
The downing of an unidentified object on Saturday is the third such incident in a week.
On Friday, an unidentified object was shot down by a US F-22 over Alaskan airspace after being monitored by the United States since Thursday night.
The pilots gave different accounts of what they observed after approaching the object, a source briefed on the intelligence told ; some pilots said it “interfered with their sensors,” but other pilots said they didn’t experience that.
The object was flying at about 12,000 meters, which made it a risk to civilian traffic. That set it apart from the Chinese surveillance balloon, which was traveling “well above commercial air traffic,” Ryder said at the time.
The Chinese balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday after traveling across the US Biden administration officials said it posed little intelligence gathering and military risk.
However, it did represent a risk to people and property on the ground if it were shot down, since authorities indicated that it was approximately 60 meters and the payload weighed more than 900 kilos.
The US military was still trying to recover the debris from the balloon at the bottom of the ocean. Ryder said Friday that they have “located a significant amount of debris so far that will prove useful to our further understanding of this balloon and its surveillance capabilities.”
