Unidentified object over Canada shot down as aerial drama escalates

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the takedown of an unidentified airborne object over Canada on Saturday, the third such aerial incursion into North American airspace this month, prompting alarm across the continent.

The high-altitude object was identified over Alaska late Friday evening and monitored by US military aircraft as it crossed into Canada, according to the Pentagon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 fighter jet successfully shot it down over the Yukon, said Trudeau, who coordinated the response with US President Joe Biden. The object was brought down by an AIM 9X missile.

The drama began earlier this month when a balloon traversed North America, gripping global attention and sparking a diplomatic standoff between the US and China. The US has said the balloon was sent deliberately by China for surveillance, while Beijing countered it was a harmless weather-monitoring device that blew off course. The US military shot it down on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina. 

Less than a week later, Biden ordered the takedown of a smaller unidentified object spotted about 40,000 feet over Alaska on Friday. That same day, the third object was sighted at a similar altitude by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint US-Canada military command responsible for aerospace and maritime warning.

“It appears to be a small, cylindrical object” — smaller than the first balloon — and “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights,” Anita Anand, Canada’s defense minister, said of the latest object. 

It’s unclear what the last two objects were or where they originated. No evidence has yet been made public to indicate that the three episodes are connected. Anand declined to speculate on the origins of the latest object, saying it was too early, but added that broadly, “we need to be wide eyes open on China.” 

In order to determine more details on the purpose and origin of the devices, Canadian Forces will recover and analyze the wreckage of the latest object, while US crews have been working to recover the remnants of the balloon and the second object.

In a sign of the heightened jitters over the incursions, the US on Saturday ordered a temporary closure of airspace over Montana after it detected a “radar anomaly.” Fighter aircraft sent to investigate didn’t detect any object that correlated with the radar hits, NORAD said, adding it will continue to monitor the situation. The restriction has since been lifted. 

The incidents have shone a spotlight on China’s supposed surveillance programs. The US alleges the balloon was part of a years-long, military-led spy program spanning more than 40 countries, a claim rejected by Beijing. 

In a series of briefings and hearings with lawmakers on Thursday, US officials said the balloon was carrying equipment with sensors designed to pick up communications signals and pointed to the fact that it had hovered over sensitive US military sites during its transit across the US. China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday that the balloon was a civilian craft and its transit across the US last week was an “isolated, unexpected incident.”  

A US intelligence report released in January said reporting of unidentified aerial phenomena has increased, as the stigma surrounding claims of UFO sightings lessens and awareness increases about the threats such objects may pose.