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More flying objects shot down over Alaska and Canada – USA puzzles over origin
An F-22 Raptor shot down the aircraft in Canadian airspace
© Martin Bernetti / AFP
Several mysterious flying objects over North America keep the local air force in suspense. What the jets shot down is still unclear. Is there a connection to the recently discovered Chinese balloon? China is now reporting a mysterious sighting of its own.
Shortly after shooting down a mysterious flying object over the United States, the US military destroyed a second object over Canada. US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly approved the move on Saturday, the White House said. The object was shot down out of caution and on the recommendation of the military. It was completely open to whom it belonged and for what purpose it was on its way. It was also unclear whether there was a connection to the suspected Chinese spy balloon that the American military took down over US territory a few days ago. According to state media, an unknown flying object was also sighted over China on Sunday.
The launch over Canada
The flying object over Canada was shot down by a US F-22 fighter jet over the Yukon region in the northwest of the country on Saturday. The North American Air Defense Command Norad had previously monitored it closely, according to Washington. On Friday, the US military shot down a flying object over Alaska not far from the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. The US government justified the action by saying that civilian air traffic was endangered.
Similarities with the incident off the coast of Alaska
Canada’s Defense Minister Anita Anand said the object was shot down over her territory at an altitude of around twelve kilometers. The object off the coast of Alaska was also at this altitude – both are said to have been unmanned. The minister also called the object small and spoke of a “cylindrical shape”. According to US media, it also has this in common with the previously shot down object, which is said to have been the size of a small car. Both objects differ significantly in flight altitude and size from the Chinese balloon. According to the US government, it was 18 kilometers high and the size of two to three buses.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC on Sunday that Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, had informed him of the state of knowledge: “It is currently believed that the two objects shot down on Friday and Saturday were also balloons,” but much smaller than the first”.
Flying objects are puzzles
The salvage of both objects was in full swing over the weekend. The salvage of the missile shot down off Alaska proved particularly difficult. It is made more difficult by the “arctic weather conditions”, said the command staff Northern Command (Northcom). These included freezing winds, snow and limited daylight. The salvage of the debris takes place on the sea ice. Northcom stressed that there was still no further information about the object, its purpose or its origin.
Connection to Chinese balloon open
The incident was reminiscent of the Chinese balloon suspected of being used for espionage, which the US Air Force shot down off the coast of the state of South Carolina a week earlier. The US military had allowed the balloon to hover over the American mainland for several days – on the grounds that launching it would pose risks to the population due to the falling debris. In addition, the balloon was well above the level of civil air traffic. It was only shot down over the Atlantic. Schumer emphasized that the United States had collected an enormous amount of intelligence information during the overflight. Its debris is also recovered and examined. The United States accuses China’s government of using the balloon to spy on military installations. Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civilian research balloon that had gone off course and described the launch as an “overreaction”.
The incident caused further tension in the already strained relationship between the two countries – also because the USA accuses China of operating a large international surveillance program with balloons of this type, with which they have targeted more than 40 countries on five continents. “The Chinese have been humiliated,” Schumer said. “The Chinese have been caught lying. And I think that’s a real step backwards for them.” He assumes that they will have to stop the program or do something else after they are blown. “Because they look really bad.”
Sighting over China
On Sunday, reports of a mysterious sighting also came from China. The state-affiliated daily Global Times reported that China is preparing to shoot down an unknown flying object. Citing a local shipping authority, it said the mysterious object was spotted off the waters of the prefecture-level city of Rizhao in Shandong province on Sunday. At first there was no further information as to what kind of object it was.
The US military has been dealing with mysterious flying objects for a long time
Unidentified flying objects are not uncommon in themselves. In 2020, the US Department of Defense set up a working group to analyze “unexplained phenomena in the air that could potentially pose a threat to US national security”. Since then, the group has published reports on this at irregular intervals – most recently a few weeks ago. It emerged that the US military has no explanation for many observations of unidentified flying objects. Reports of inexplicable phenomena in the sky have increased. However, the Pentagon made it clear that no evidence of extraterrestrial life had been found.
Democratic MP Jim Himes told NBC on Sunday that given the lack of information, social media are now wildly speculating about an alien invasion or further actions by the Chinese. That’s not helpful.