Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday that on his orders US fighter jets shot down an “unidentified object” flying high in the Yukon, acting a day after the US took similar action in Alaska.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint US-Canada organization that provides airspace defense in the two countries, said it had detected an object flying at high altitude in northern Canada. It wasn’t immediately clear how high it flew or what.
Trudeau said he also spoke with President Joe Biden, who himself ordered an unidentified object in remote Alaska on Friday.
“Earlier today, President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Trudeau about an unidentified, unmanned object in North American airspace,” according to a statement from the White House. “The object was closely tracked and monitored by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) over the last 24 hours and the President has been continuously briefed by the national security team since the object was detected.”
Biden and Trudeau authorized the shooting of the object “out of caution and at the recommendation of the military,” the statement said.
“The US F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory using the AIM 9X missile after close coordination between US and Canadian authorities, to include a call today between Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of Defense Anita Anand, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder “While the Canadian authorities conduct a recovery operation to help our country learn more about the object, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will cooperate with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
NORAD spokesman Major Olivier Gallant said the military had identified the object but would not disclose details.
F-22 fighter jets have now downed three objects in the upper airspace of the US and Canada over seven days, a stunning development in the sky that raises the question of what, exactly, is flying overhead and who sent it.
At least one downed object is believed to be a Chinese spy balloon, but the other two have not been publicly identified. Trudeau said Canadian forces will recover the wreckage for study. The shot down Yukon is the westernmost region of Canada and one of the least populated parts of Canada.
Downing came a day after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said an object about the size of a small car was shot down in remote Alaska. Officials could not say whether the surveillance equipment was there, where it came from or where it was going.
Kirby said it was shot down because it was flying at about 40,000 feet (13,000 meters) and posed a “substantial threat” to the safety of civil aviation, not because it knew it was conducting surveillance.
According to US Northern Command, recovery operations continued Saturday on sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska.
In a statement, the Northern Command said there were no new details about the object. He said the Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, along with the FBI and local law enforcement, are conducting the search and recovery.
“Arctic weather conditions, including cold, snow, and limited cloud cover, are factors in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” the statement said.
Last Saturday, US officials shot a large white balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
The balloons are part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for “several years,” the Pentagon said. The US has said Chinese balloons have flown over dozens of countries on five continents in recent years, and learned more about the balloon program after monitoring one shot down near South Carolina.
China responded that it had the right to “take further action” and criticized the US for its “obvious reaction and violation of international practice.”
The Navy continues survey and recovery activities on the seabed off South Carolina, and the Coast Guard provides security. Additional debris was pulled out there, and operations will continue as weather permits, North Command said.
—CNBC contributed to this report.