OTTAWA (AP) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that on his order a U.S. warplane shot down an unidentified object that was flying high over northern Canada, acting a day after U.S. planes took similar action over Alaska.
Shortly before Trueau’s tweet, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said it had detected an object flying at high altitude over Canada. NORAD gave no further information, including when the object was first spotted or what it is.
On Twitter, Trudeau said: “I ordered the take down 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.”
The object was the third known to have violated North American airspace in the past two weeks.
In a second tweet, Trudeau said: “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 suspected Chinese spy balloon spent nearly a week flying through Canada and U.S. airspace before it was shot down by U.S. warplanes last Sunday.
The U.S. military shot down a second object in Alaskan airspace Friday, though authorities have not provided details on what it was.
