What is known about these unidentified objects?

It is a scene that has been repeating itself in the last week. Canada shot down another unidentified object in its airspace on Saturday. An action that occurs just one day after the United States did the same with an artifact that was approaching the state of Alaska.

The images of these last two days recall the demolition of a balloon allegedly used by China for espionage purposes on Saturday, February 4. However, the authorities of both countries have already ensured that they are objects that are different in shape.

The operation this Saturday, February 11, was confirmed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I ordered the shooting down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” he posted on his Twitter account. And he detailed: “Canadian and American planes were mobilized and an American F-22 fired successfully at the object.”

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said this was the first US Aerospace Defense Command mission to bring down such an object. In addition, she pointed out that he illegally entered Canadian airspace creating a “reasonable danger to the safety of the ships.”

At the same time, he ruled out that it is a cause for concern for the country. Canada will analyze the remains of the “cylindrical” object in more depth. Anand ruled that he will not give more details until the relevant investigations are carried out.

The one on Friday, on the other hand, was announced by the spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby. The official assured that “the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet (about 12,000 meters) and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights.”

In addition, Kirby assured that the decision was made on the orders of US President Joe Biden and on recommendations from the Pentagon.

The differences with the Chinese globe

Despite not providing many specifications, he assured that it was the size of a small car and that it could not yet be verified if it belonged to a surveillance operation.

What Kirby did maintain is that it was not “similar in size or shape” to the Chinese.

For his part, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder pointed out that although the debris field continues to be “mapped”, it could not monopolize the Chinese balloon. In that sense he said it was like comparing “apples and oranges.”

As an official told “The object did not appear to have any surveillance equipment…which would make it smaller and probably less sophisticated than the Chinese balloon.”

What is known about the Chinese globe?

Questions about the Chinese balloon remain open a week after it was shot down. Its pieces were recovered by US authorities and are now in the hands of the FBI. It would be the first time that the office would be conducting an investigation of this type.

As detailed to ‘‘, a senior State Department official said the balloon “was capable of signal intelligence gathering operations” and was part of a fleet that had flown over “more than 40 countries on five continents.”

China, for its part, has denied any spying targets. A version contrary to that of the US authorities who claim that he was able to monitor the country’s communications.

“We know that the People’s Republic of China used these balloons for surveillance,” an official said, according to . And he added: “High-resolution images of the U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence gathering operations.”

According to ‘The New York Times’Several US officials said “they have evaluated it as a collection device, although not one that can collect the kind of sensitive information that advanced Chinese reconnaissance satellites already collect.”

Some objects that would not be new

As ‘The New York Times’ also shows, it would not be the first time that the United States would be analyzing the presence of unidentified objects in its sky.

In fact, according to the newspaper, the appearance of the Chinese balloon would have generated “great” concern on Capitol Hill because “it came immediately after a classified report describing incidents of US adversaries who could use advanced aerial systems to spy on the country.”

Thus, the Pentagon would have “examined 366 incidents that initially had no explanation” of which “163 were balloons.” According to the outlet, “a handful of those incidents involved advanced surveillance balloons.”

“There is a greater potential risk from these types of balloons than many people realize,” said General Victor E. Renuart Jr., former head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, for ‘The New York Times’.

On the other hand, the medium ‘The Independent’ It ensures that “similar aircraft had flown over the US in previous years, including at least three times during the administration of former President Donald Trump.”

Previous balloons were discovered near Florida, Guam, Hawaii and Texas, as reported to Congress by the US Department of Defense.

The outlet also references a US Air Force report, dated April 2022, which discovered a “People’s Republic of China high-altitude balloon” that “circled the globe” in 2019. .

With local media