OTTAWA: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday (Feb 11) an “unidentified object” was shot down over northwestern Canada, one day after US officials said they had shot down a similar object over Alaska.
“Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Trudeau tweeted.
The operation came one week after US forces downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that sparked a diplomatic rift with Beijing and triggered alarm over serial intrusions into the continent’s airspace.
Trudeau said that Canadian forces in the Yukon “will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object.”
He said he spoke with US President Joe Biden over the latest incursion.
The object was shot down Saturday over the Yukon, which borders Alaska, where US fighter jets off the state’s north coast downed another object Friday.
Search and recovery operations for the remains of that object continued on Saturday but were hindered by Arctic “wind chill, snow, and limited daylight,” the US Northern Command said in a statement.
“Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice,” it said, adding that the Pentagon could offer “no further details … about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin.”
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