“Unidentified object” shot down over Canada, Trudeau says

An “unidentified object” which “violated “Canadian airspace” was shot down over Canada Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced. 

The article was shot down by a U.S. army F-22 fighter jet over the Yukon, Trudeau mentioned. 

A U.S. official beforehand confirmed to CBS Information Saturday that the item was detected by North American Aerospace Protection Command (NORAD) and gave the impression to be a “high-altitude balloon.” 

Trudeau tweeted that “Canadian and U.S. plane had been scrambled” after he “ordered the take down” of the item by NORAD. 

In an announcement to CBS Information, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder mentioned that it was detected over Alaska on Friday evening, after which monitored by two F-22 fighter jets with the help of the Alaska Air Nationwide Guard.

The jets had been “monitoring it intently and taking time to characterize the character of the item,” Ryder mentioned.   

On Saturday, after the item crossed into Canadian airspace, President Biden licensed the F-22 fighter jet, which is assigned to NORAD, to “take down a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada,” in accordance with Ryder. 

It was shot down with an AIM 9X missile following “shut coordination between U.S. and Canadian authorities,” Ryder mentioned.  

The White Home later confirmed that Mr. Biden “licensed” the “take down” of the item “following a name” with Mr. Trudeau. 

As Canada conducts restoration operations for the item, the FBI will help the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with its investigation, Ryder disclosed. 

All this comes at some point after a “excessive altitude object” was shot down by the U.S. army over Alaska, and precisely one week after a Chinese language spy balloon was shot down by the army off the South Carolina coast.  

In a information convention Saturday night, Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand mentioned Saturday’s object was shot down at 3:41 p.m. EST, noting that it was the primary time {that a} “NORAD operation had downed an aerial object.”

It was flying at an altitude of 40,000 toes, and was downed about 100 miles from the Alaska-Canada border, Anand mentioned. 

Anand famous that it “gave the impression to be a cylindrical object” that “gave the impression to be smaller in dimension” than the Chinese language spy balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast.

Anand earlier tweeted that she additionally spoke with U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin concerning the item, and that they “reaffirmed that we’ll all the time defend our sovereignty collectively.”

Previous to Saturday’s newest incident, NORAD mentioned in a information launch that search and restoration operations had been underway on “sea ice” close to Deadhorse, Alaska, the place Friday’s object was shot down. Icy temperatures and arctic climate circumstances had been posing challenges to crews, nonetheless.

Restoration operations had been additionally persevering with for the Chinese language spy balloon shot down Feb. 4 within the Atlantic Ocean, with crews utilizing divers and underwater unmanned automobiles. These efforts concerned U.S. Northern Command, the U.S. Navy and the FBI.

Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson John Kirby mentioned Friday that the item shot down over Alaska was the dimensions of a “small automobile.” It was taken down extra simply than the Chinese language spy balloon, Kirby mentioned, which was bigger than the Statute of Liberty.  

The Chinese language spy balloon was a part of a “bigger Chinese language surveillance balloon program” that has operated for a number of years and over a number of continents, the Pentagon mentioned. That balloon, which was first noticed over Alaska on Jan. 28, transited throughout the U.S. mainland earlier than being shot down. Bide administration officers mentioned that call to carry off on taking pictures it down was made as a result of danger to civilians on the bottom. 

— David Martin, Kathryn Watson and Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report.