US and Canada military shoot down new unidentified object

Another unidentified object was shot down over North American airspace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed.

He said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over the Yukon River in northwestern Canada.

Both Canadian and US planes were scrambled to track down the object, which Trudeau says was shot down by a US F-22 fighter jet.

It is the third object shot down over North America in the past week.

The US military destroyed a Chinese balloon last weekend and an unspecified object the size of a small car was shot down off Alaska on Friday.

Mr. Trudeau confirmed on Saturday that he gave the order and spoke to US President Joe Biden.

“Canadian forces will now recover and analyze the debris from the object,” he wrote on Twitter.

The last unspecified object flew over the central Yukon at about 40,000 feet (12,000 m) and was intercepted around 3:41 p.m. local time on Saturday, Defense Secretary Anita Anand told reporters.

She described it as “small” and “cylindrical” but salvage efforts are still ongoing to discover more details.

Ms Anand said it was “about 100 miles” from the US border, adding it posed a “reasonable threat to civil aviation”.

She said it “appears to be smaller than the one that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday” — referring to the giant spy balloon suspected by the Chinese, which was 60 meters tall.

Prime Minister Trudeau previously posted on Twitter thanking the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which conducts air defense for the US and Canada and directs the mission.

The White House said the object had been tracked and monitored “for the past 24 hours.”

“Out of great caution and at the recommendation of their military officials, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau have authorized the demolition,” it said.

“The guides discussed the importance of recovering the object to determine more details about its purpose or origin.”

The US Department of Defense provided more details on the mission to shoot down the object, confirming that two F-22 jets took off from a military base in Anchorage, Alaska, and the object was shot down with an AIM 9X missile.

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder added that the FBI will work closely with Canadian police.

Separately, the US military also sent fighter jets over Montana on Saturday as part of the airspace was closed – but it turned out to be a “radar anomaly” and nothing unusual was found.

The latest object’s appearance over North America comes just a week after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was also destroyed by the US.

On Friday, another unspecified object was tracked down and shot down over Alaska on orders from US President Biden.

In a brief statement, the military said US troops, including the Alaska National Guard, are still conducting search and recovery activities on the sea ice for Friday’s object.

It said it had no further details about the object’s capabilities, purpose or origin, but confirmed the FBI is helping with the recovery near the Alaskan town of Deadhorse.

“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation and personnel will adjust salvage operations to ensure safety,” it added – and that the rescue operation will continue if weather permits .

Last weekend, defense officials told US media that debris from the Chinese balloon landed in 14m of water – shallower than expected – near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

China has denied the balloon, which first entered US airspace on January 28, was used for spy purposes, saying it was a stray weather device.

However, the US said the balloon was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons that had flown across five continents.

The balloon incident has strained US-China relations as Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing.

Chinese officials accused the US of “political manipulation and hype” on Friday.

In an interview Thursday, President Biden defended his handling of the Chinese balloon, claiming it was not “a major violation.”