An American F-22 was scrambled Saturday to shoot down an unidentified object over Canada’s Yukon territory.
The Yukon is a sparsely populated region of Canada that is north of British Columbia and abuts the eastern border of Alaska.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. [The North American Aerospace Defense Command] shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau tweeted Saturday.
“I spoke with President [Joe] Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America,” he wrote.
I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023
Earlier Saturday, Global News reported that NORAD was monitoring one or two objects.
NORAD later announced that it had “positively identified a high-altitude airborne object over Northern Canada.”
Maj. Olivier Gallant, a spokesman for NORAD, said military aircraft were “operating from Alaska and Canada in support of [NORAD] activities.”
The incident in Canada came one day after the Pentagon shot down an unknown object along Alaska’s coast. Officials have not shared any information about the origin or suspected purpose of the object.
It was first picked up on radar at about 9 p.m. Alaska time on Thursday and was determined to be a potential danger to civilian aircraft, according to The New York Times.
The Washington Post reported that the search for what was left of the object is underway.
Pentagon officials say the object shot down over Alaska Friday was about the “size of a small car” and not similar in size or shape to the Chinese surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina last week. https://t.co/svdmjfEfqv pic.twitter.com/LScYKgNW1b
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 10, 2023
A Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday after traversing the continental United States.
