Unknown object U.S. shot down near Alaska was heading into Canadian airspace: sources
CTV
The unknown high-altitude object that the U.S. shot down near Alaska on Friday was heading into Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.
The unknown high-altitude object that the U.S. shot down near Alaska on Friday was heading into Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.
"The general area would be just off the very, very northeastern part of Alaska, right near the Alaska-Canada border," White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday. "We're calling this an object, because that's the best description we have right now. We do not know who owns it."
On Friday afternoon, U.S. officials announced that an F-22 fighter jet shot down the object off the coast of Alaska, not far from the Canadian border. The order to shoot it down came directly from U.S. President Joe Biden, just hours after Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand met with her American counterpart at the Pentagon.
"Today at the Pentagon, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and I participated in a call with NORAD Commander, General Glen VanHerck regarding a high-altitude object detected over Alaska," Anand said in a statement to CTV News. "The object did not fly into Canadian airspace. During this conversation, I conveyed Canada’s support for taking action to take down this object. NORAD deployed aircraft to track and monitor the object and provided important information to decision-makers – and the object was taken down earlier today by United States Northern Command."
Roughly the size of a small car, the object was first detected Thursday night. A U.S. source told ABC News it was "cylindrical and silver-ish gray" and appeared to be floating. No details have emerged about its origins and purpose. Travelling at 40,000 feet (12,000 metres) and apparently unmanned and unable to manoeuvre, it was deemed a reasonable safety threat to civilian flights and shot down over the Arctic Ocean.
"Civilian aircraft operate at a variety of ranges, up to 40,000 to 45,000 feet (12,000 to 13,700 metres)," Pentagon press secretary and Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Friday. "So there was a reasonable concern that this could present a threat or a potential hazard to civilian air traffic."
Recovery efforts are now ongoing at a reportedly frozen stretch of the Beaufort Sea.
