After the Chinese balloon debacle that occurred last week, it appears that Canada and the US are taking no chances with a repeat public relations disaster. For the second time in two days, the US military has shot down an object over North American airspace.
Except this time, it was over Canada.
The latest object, as per Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was shot down by a U.S. F-22 Raptor after both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to over an unidentified object violating Canadian airspace (Trudeau was careful not to state “unidentified flying object”). The object was shot down over the Yukon, as per Trudeau, with Canadian forces now moving to recover and analyze the wreckage of the object.
The shootdown was said to occur near to Mayo Regional Airport.
A second entity meanwhile was said to be being tracked in the area.
Further details on the object have yet to be released.
UPDATE: Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand has held a press conference on the downing of the unidentified object.
The object, which was downed at 3:41 EST, is said to have been flying at 40,000 feet and was downed 100 miles from the Canada-US border. Recovery operations are still underway and is being supported by both the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces.
The object is said to have been cylindrical in size, and smaller than the one identified last week, and may be similar to the one downed over Alaska yesterday. No further details are being released at this time.
Alaska shoot down
The object shot down today follows an event yesterday whereby F-22 pilots shot down an object over Alaska. Several oddities have been reported on the matter, including that the object was observed to have had no discernible features or surveillance equipment, as per reports, and was “cylindrical and silverish-gray.”
Pilots meanwhile have reported that the objects interfered with their sensors, and that no propulsion systems could be seen, with the object said to alternate speeds from 20-40 mph to seemingly floating in space.
Upon being shot down the object was said to have “exploded into tiny pieces” upon crashing into the ice at Prudhoe Bay.
The latest on the situation includes the detail that the aircraft was not detected by radar or early warning systems until it had already entered US airspace over Alaska, unlike the Chinese surveillance balloon which was detected prior to it entering North American airspace last week.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly stated that Canada was alerted to the matter, with Trudeau supporting the decision to take action.
Montana no-fly zone
Separately, a new Notice-to-airmen, or NOTAM, alert was posted over Havra, Montana, as of 6:58 PM EST, indicating that a region is being classified as “international defence airspace,” meaning aircraft may not travel in the affected area without authorization. The notice is leading some to speculate that another shootdown may be imminent.
Concurrent with the notice, two F-15’s have reportedly been scrambled out of Portland heading north.
UPDATE 8:33 PM EST: It is now being reported that the airspace over Montana has been reopened after having previously closed for Department of Defense activities. Air and ground force operations are slated to resume sometime tomorrow morning in relation to the object.
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