US Military Shoots Down Third Unknown Object in North America in a Week
US Shoots Down Unknown ‘High-Altitude Object' in North American Airspace
The United States military has shot down an unidentified “high-altitude object” over northern Canada, the third time in a week that US fighter jets have taken down objects in North American airspace. This comes one day after a similar incident involving a “high-altitude object” shot down over Alaska, and exactly one week after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the military off the South Carolina coast.[0]
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday that an “unidentified object” had been shot down by a US fighter jet over Canadian airspace on his orders. National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters that the object “came inside our territorial waters – and those waters right now are frozen – but inside territorial airspace and over territorial waters. Fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command took down the object within last hour.”[1]
A US F-22 fired an AIM-9X missile to bring down the object, just as the same missile and aircraft had shot down an unknown object on Friday and a Chinese surveillance balloon on February 4. After approaching the unidentified object, the pilots' testimonies varied, according to a source briefed on the intelligence who spoke to CNN. Some of them reported that the object had interfered with their sensors, while others stated that they had not experienced such a phenomenon.[2]
The US military has yet to reveal any information about the origin or purpose of the object shot down. However, US officials have stated that the Chinese surveillance balloon, which was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this week, was part of a larger Chinese surveillance balloon program that has operated for several years and over multiple continents. That balloon had been designed to collect and geolocate communications.
The FAA and NORAD also restricted airspace in central Montana Saturday and scrambled fighter jets after radar detected an unidentified object, NORAD announced late Saturday.[3] No object that corresponded with the radar signals was located by pilots, so the airspace was reopened.[3] In a statement, NORAD declared that they would be continuing to monitor the area.[4]
The downing of the object marks the third time in one week that US aircraft have shot down an object in North American airspace.[5]
0. “The U.S. military shot down an unidentified object over Canada's Yukon territory” NPR, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.npr.org/2023/02/11/1156347424/us-military-shot-down-unidentified-object-canada
1. “US shoots down unknown ‘high-altitude object' over Alaska, White House says” ABC News, 10 Feb. 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-shoots-high-altitude-object-alaska-white-house/story?id=97040022
2. “Questions remain about unidentified object shot down over Alaska” WLS-TV, 11 Feb. 2023, https://abc7chicago.com/unidentified-object-high-altitude-shot-down-over-alaska-ufo/12801361/
3. “U.S. jet downs unidentified object over Canada” POLITICO, 12 Feb. 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/11/us-jet-canada-unidentified-object-trudeau-00082440
4. “Unmanned aircraft shot down over Canada by US jets, official says” USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2023, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/11/us-jets-shoot-down-object-over-canada/11238813002/
5. “Unidentified objects shot down over North America” CBS News, 12 Feb. 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/tampa/news/unidentified-objects-shot-down-over-north-america
