Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Warplane shot down object over northern Canada

(The AEGIS Alliance) – On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that, under his direction, a U.S. fighter jet took down an unknown flying object that was cruising at a high altitude in northern Canada. This action took place a day after similar incidents occurred in Alaska, where U.S. aircraft took similar measures.

Prior to Trudeau’s tweet, the North American Aerospace Defense Command reported detecting an object flying at a high altitude in Canadian airspace. However, no additional details were provided, such as when the object was first seen or what it could be.

A spokesperson, Major Olivier Gallant, stated that both Canadian and U.S. military jets under the jurisdiction of NORAD were deployed in response to the situation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter: “I ordered the takedown of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.”

This unidentified object was the third reported incident of its kind in the past two weeks where an object has breached North American airspace.

In a follow-up tweet, Trudeau wrote: “I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America.”

A possible Chinese espionage balloon was reportedly in Canadian and U.S. airspace for nearly a week before it was taken down by U.S. military jets near South Carolina last Sunday. The balloon was shot down over water instead of land to avoid property damage or people getting injured by falling debris.

The U.S. military brought down a second object in Alaskan airspace on Friday, but the authorities have not disclosed any information about its identity.

The U.S. Northern Command has stated that recovery operations were ongoing on Saturday in the areas near Deadhorse, Alaska, and off the coast of South Carolina.

The Northern Command issued a statement indicating that there were no updates regarding the identity of the object that was brought down by a U.S. fighter jet in Alaska. The Alaska Command, Alaska National Guard, FBI, and local law enforcement agencies are working together on the search and recovery efforts.

“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” the statement reads. “Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice.”

The statement also indicated that the Navy was continuing to search for and recover debris from the ocean floor off South Carolina, with the Coast Guard providing security measures. Further debris was retrieved on Friday and recovery operations will continue as weather conditions permit.

Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.