Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand revealed this Sunday, February 12, that the flying object shot down on Saturday in the Yukon region, in the north of the country, was “a small cylindrical object”.
He also explained that the device was flying at an altitude of about 40,000 feet, about 12.2 kilometersand that it was shot down due to the risk it posed to civil aviation at 3:40 p.m. some 161 kilometers from the border with Alaska, Canadian public television, the CBC, reported.
Government sources quoted by the CBC chain indicated that the first alert about the presence of the object came on Friday night, when it was still flying over the US region of Alaska.
On Saturday he already entered the Yukon and the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, surely his demolition. It was an American F-22 fighter that fired at the object and shot it down.
“I want to assure the people of the Yukon that at no time was their security at risk,” Yukon Chief Minister Ranj Pillai said. “I want to congratulate the prime minister for acting decisively to protect the people of the Yukon and all Canadians,” he added.
Earlier, Justin Trudeau had said that investigators are looking for the remains of the mysterious flying object shot down the day before by a US fighter over the Yukon Territory.
“Recovery teams are on the ground trying to find and analyze the object,” Trudeau said. reporters before leaving for a previously scheduled fundraiser in the Yukon.
Trudeau’s comments came after US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC that US authorities believe the object destroyed over Canada on Saturday – as well as another flying object downed near Deadhorse – Alaska, Friday- were both balloons.
He offered few other details, saying only that the objects were much smaller than the first balloon to fly over US airspace and was shot down over South Carolina last Saturday.
An American F-22 shot down another ‘UFO’ this Saturday: it was flying over Canada
Schumer explains that US authorities were “laser-focused” on finding out what the objects were and what threat they posed, if they supposed any. “You can be sure that if American interests or people are in jeopardy, they will take appropriate action,” he said.
Republican lawmaker Mike Turner, who sits on the US House Armed Services Committee, suggested that President Joe Biden’s administration may be overcompensating for what he described as its past surveillance of US airspace.
“They seem to have the easy trigger”, Turner told CNN on Sunday, then quickly added: “I’d rather they be trigger-happy than lax.”
The downing of a huge Chinese balloon off the US coast, followed by shoot-downs of two smaller objects over Alaska and Canada, raised concerns about North American security and further strained relations with China.
The US shot down another object that flew over Alaskan airspace
The drama began in late January, when a giant Chinese balloon, dubbed a spy ship by US officials, drifted for days across US skies before being shot down on February 4 by an F-22 jet off the South Carolina coast. China insisted that the balloon was conducting meteorological research.
The Pentagon said it had a gondola the size of three buses and weighing more than a ton; which was equipped with multiple antennas and solar arrays large enough to power various intelligence gathering sensors.
Then on Friday, US warplanes shot down another object off northern Alaska, the military said, adding that it was “within US sovereign airspace over US territorial water.” It lacked any propulsion or control system, authorities said.
On Saturday, a US F-22 aircraft, following US and Canadian orders, shot down a “high-altitude airborne object” over the central Yukon Territory. in Canada, about 100 miles from the US border, saying it posed a danger. threat to the flight of civilians. Canada described it as cylindrical and smaller than the initial balloon. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand declined to speculate on whether it originated in China.
US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who was briefed by the Biden administration following the latest incident, said on Sunday that the last two objects were likely balloons, “but much smaller than the first.” , both flying at about 12,200 meters.
Officials described the two new objects as the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Military teams, working from planes, boats and mini-submarines, are touring the shallow waters off South Carolina, and military footage showed the recovery of a large chunk of the balloon. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is taking custody of the debris for analysis.
Operations to recover the second object fit into the sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. “Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow and limited daylight, are a factor,” the army said.
Recovery teams, supported by a Canadian CP-140 patrol aircraft, are searching for remains of the third object in the Yukon, Anand said Saturday. The Pentagon said the FBI is working closely with Canadian police.
US officials say images of the first balloon show it had surveillance equipment that could intercept telecommunications. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he intended to “monitor strategic sites in the continental United States.”
A former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, suggested that China, or some members of its military leadership, intentionally wanted to undermine an imminent visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The United States has said the balloons were part of a “fleet” that has spanned five continents. Some analysts say it may be the start of a major Chinese surveillance effort targeting foreign militaries ahead of potential heightened tensions over Taiwan in the coming years.
Analysts said US and Canadian intelligence is constantly receiving large amounts of raw data and generally discarding some to operate on the threat of incoming missiles, not slow-moving objects like balloons.
“Now, of course, we are looking for them. So I think we’re probably finding more stuff,” Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC.
Officials said three balloons are now known to have likely flown over US territory during the Trump administration, undetected at the time, and one earlier in Joe Biden’s term.
On Saturday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) sent fighter jets to investigate a “radar anomaly” over Montana, but found no related objects.
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