Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a US warplane shot down a “unidentified object” in the northwest of the country, a day after Washington shot down another aircraft over Alaska.
“I ordered the shooting down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. Norad shot down the object over the Yukon”Trudeau explained on Twitter, referring to the North American Aerospace Defense Command of the US Armed Forces (Norad).
I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023
“Canadian and US aircraft were mobilized, and a US F-22 successfully fired on the object”said the Canadian head of government, a week after an American fighter shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that caused a diplomatic incident between Washington and Beijing.
Trudeau said in turn that he spoke with US President Joe Biden and that Canadian forces “they will recover and analyze the remains of the object”according to the Europa Press agency.
The United States had shot down a high-flying object over Alaska, which was “the size of a small car”according to John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, without giving details about its nature or origin.
He also noted that, as it was flying at an altitude of 12,000 meters, it posed “a threat to the safety of air traffic.”
“We don’t know who it belongs to, whether it’s a State or a company. We don’t understand the purpose,” he added.
US Northern Command Update on Recovery Operations, Feb. 11, 2023 pic.twitter.com/ImGmZSDNN9
—US Northern Command (@USNorthernCmd) February 11, 2023
Biden gave the order to destroy it “this morning,” and it was shot down in the early afternoon, he said.
According to Kirby, the US administration became aware of the presence of this object the night before, whose remains fell into icy waters in northern Alaska, near the Canadian border.
“We don’t know who it belongs to, whether it’s a State or a company. We don’t understand the purpose.”John Kirby
Kirby also specified that unlike the Chinese balloon, this object did not appear to have a propulsion system or controls that allow it to move, the AFP agency said.
Last Saturday, the United States shot down over the Atlantic Ocean the alleged Chinese spy balloon that had been flying over the country for several days, in an incident that led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to Beijing.
China, which protested the shooting down of the balloon and considered it a “disproportionate” reactionensures that the balloon was for civilian use, for meteorological research, and that it entered US airspace because, due to the winds, “it deviated from its trajectory.”
In recent days, US officials said the device “clearly” had spy equipment and was part of a fleet deployed by Beijing to five continents for “surveillance operations.”
