An “unidentified object” which “violated “Canadian airspace” was shot down over Canada on Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced. The object was shot down by a U.S. military F-22 fighter jet over the Yukon, Trudeau said.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a tweet.
Trudeau added that “Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled” after he “ordered the take down” of the object by NORAD.
The object was detected by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and appeared to be a “high-altitude balloon”, a U.S. official previously confirmed to CBS News Saturday.
According to a statement to news outlets, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that it was detected over Alaska on Friday night, and then monitored by two F-22 fighter jets with the assistance of the Alaska Air National Guard.
The jets were “tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object,” Ryder said.
After the object crossed into Canadian airspace on Saturday, President Biden authorized the F-22 fighter jet, which is assigned to NORAD, to “take down a high-altitude airborne object over northern Canada,” according to Ryder.
(With inputs from news agencies)
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