Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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Late Saturday, the White House announced that United States military jets had downed another unidentified object floating slowly above American, then Canadian, soil.
Just one day after shooting down a still-unidentified object over Alaska, and less than a week after fighter jets shot down a Chinese spy balloon on the East Coast, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) personnel destroyed what has thus far been described only as a “cylindrical object” that had entered Canadian airspace.
According to a release from the White House, both President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved of the move.
“Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized it to be taken down,” a White House statement reads. “President Biden authorized US fighter aircraft assigned to NORAD to conduct the operation and a US F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory in close coordination with Canadian authorities.”
Per the readout, Biden and Trudeau remained in close contact on the matter and agreed on the next steps.
“The leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object in order to determine more details on its purpose or origin,” the statement reads. “President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau commended NORAD’s and U.S. Northern Command’s strong and effective partnership and agreed to continue their close coordination to detect, track, and defend our airspace.”
The exact size of the object, what purpose it might have served and for whom were not immediately clear, but officials state that it was floating at 40,000 feet and a potential hazard to commercial air travel.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement that the latest object was first spotted over Alaska on Friday evening and that jets had monitored it with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard.
“Monitoring continued today as the object crossed into Canadian airspace, with Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joining the formation to further assess the object,” Ryder said. “A U.S. F-22 shot down the object in Canadian territory using an AIM 9X missile.”
On Twitter, Trudeau clarified that the object was spotted over the Yukon, which is in Western Canada and shares a sizable border with Alaska.
“I ordered the takedown of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau tweeted. “@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.
“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.”
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.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023
Back in the U.S., an already riled Republican Party continued to press for more details.
“I hope President Biden can step away from the Governors Ball in the White House and tell the American people what the [heck] is going on,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green tweeted. “Montana is the site of multiple nuclear missile silos. After shooting down [UFOs] in Alaska & Canada, we deserve answers.”
Greene is, by anyone’s definition, to the farther right of the Republican Party, so it’s no surprise that she has been spirited in her critiques of Biden. However, now even the moderates are beginning to amplify their calls for openness from the White House.
“As we learn more about these objects, I will continue to encourage maximum transparency so that Alaskans have the greatest possible understanding of what they are and what we are doing, on the front line of our nation’s defense, to take them safely out of the sky,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), another political figure substantially more to the center than Greene, tweeted, “Closely monitoring reports of an unidentified object shot down by @NORADCommand over Canada. We need to know what happened and specifics on how this incursion was answered.
“We must continue to defend North American sovereignty and demonstrate that incursions into our airspace will not be tolerated.”
The most pressing issue, and a concern shared by Democrats and Republicans alike, is determining the exact nature, and ideally owner, of the two most recent downed objects. It’s a mystery that could take some time to unravel.
According to the Pentagon, the object shot down Friday landed on frozen water, which would make recovery possible but tricky. Canadian officials hinted that the object shot down Saturday would be even more difficult to find as it fell in the now-frozen vast landscape of mostly-rural Yukon.