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Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, announced Saturday that he had asked US and Canadian forces to rush to intercept “an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” and was shot down by a US F-22.
The incident came a day after Joe Biden ordered another “unidentified object” shot down over Alaska, and a week after a spy balloon crossing the United States was shot down off South Carolina.
Trudeau tweeted that Canadian crews were now working to recover the debris from the Yukon.
“I have ordered the downing of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” he tweeted on Saturday.
@NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled and a US F-22 successfully fired on the object.
NORAD said Saturday that they were monitoring the balloon.
“We have positively identified a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada,” NORAD officials said in a statement.
“While we are unable to discuss details related to these activities at this time, please note that NORAD conducts sustained and dispersed operations in the defense of North America through one or all three of NORAD’s regions,” Maj. Olivier said. Gallant, a spokesman for NORAD, in a statement. .
NORAD has confirmed that the US military is monitoring another possible spy balloon currently flying over Canada shortly after an unidentified object was shot down over Alaska after it was able to penetrate US airspace before being detected.
Early Saturday, Canada global news has reported that security sources were monitoring ‘one or two other objects’ that they thought might be spy balloons.
A source told Fox News that the above unidentified object was discovered “over Alaska, not far from the north coast.” The object was first seen north of Anchorage, Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson tweeted.
It comes after sources said CNN The military had developed a method for tracking spy balloons last year, even though the object, said to be about the size of a small car, was not detected on radar until after it was over Alaska.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby revealed Friday that it had been shot down an hour after an order issued by President Joe Biden. Since then, the Pentagon has sent military helicopters to retrieve it from the icy waters.
Authorities have yet to confirm what the object is or what country it belongs to. It is unclear if this is another Chinese spy balloon similar to the one shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.
The object, which is said to have shattered and was smaller than the Chinese balloon, was shot down by an F-22 (pictured)
Authorities said it was traveling at an altitude that was potentially harmful to civilian aircraft. The New York Times informed.
The object was shot down by an F-22 using an A9X missile from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
Several officials also said that the object broke into pieces after being hit by the missile, adding to the mystery of what the object actually is.
A US official revealed that the pilots who intercepted the object said it was cylindrical in shape and had no observable surveillance equipment attached.
The Pentagon has now launched a recovery operation to collect surface debris from the frozen waters off Alaska.
In-flight radar shows military planes scrambled off the northeast coast of Alaska to search for the debris of the second unidentified object. This comes after the US reportedly developed a system in 2022 to detect spy balloons on radar.
The United States began developing a system to detect spy balloons shortly after Biden took office in 2021, after a Chinese spy balloon briefly flew over the United States. They use the balloon signals to run tests to see where other balloons might have appeared in the past.
What they found allowed them to create a consistent technical method for tracking balloons around the world. They started using the method in 2022 and have not disclosed how it was eventually developed or how the signals are detected, according to CNN.
Biden called the second Alaska operation a “success” when questioned by reporters at the White House, but Republicans were quick to ask why the United States did not shoot down Beijing’s surveillance balloon sooner.
“So we can take down suspicious objects BEFORE they cross our border… Just as I suggested,” Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall tweeted Friday afternoon.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said in a press release Friday that he “appreciates the senior Department of Defense officials who briefed me this morning on the sighting of this latest object.”
“As I have been doing for the past week, including in a classified briefing with senior Pentagon officials yesterday, I strongly encouraged the NORTHCOM commander this morning to shoot down this latest unidentified intrusion into Alaskan airspace,” Sullivan said. ‘I congratulate you for doing it today.
“As I reiterated with senior Defense Department officials yesterday, we must restore deterrence against Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party, who believe they can deliberately infiltrate US airspace whenever they want.
‘That has to stop. The best way to do this is through the kind of actions we have taken today in Alaska and publicly reiterate that we will shoot down any and all unknown aircraft that violate our airspace.
“We also need to properly equip our military in Alaska with the necessary sensors and aircraft to detect and, if necessary, destroy everything from slow-moving balloons to hypersonic missiles.
‘Alaska is our nation’s first line of defense. The last few weeks have made it even more evident.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that four previous Chinese spy balloon flights over the United States had passed over sites that would be “of interest to the Chinese.”
The officials did not elaborate on the paths the balloons took or whether the US sites were military.
Pentagon spokesman Ryder said the United States was aware of the previous four flights before it detected the last Chinese balloon before it arrived in Alaska on January 28.
Fighter jets were dispatched from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage Friday morning to intercept the object near Deadhorse Bay (above) on the northeast coast.
A US military fighter jet shot down that balloon off the coast of South Carolina, drawing condemnation from China, which claimed it was a civilian aircraft.
China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.
Biden issued the order, but wanted the balloon shot down even earlier, on Wednesday.
It was told that the best time for the operation would be when it was over the water, US officials said.
Military officials determined that shooting it down on the ground from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground due to falling debris.
China responded that it reserved the right to “take further action” and criticized the US for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”