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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Photo: Spencer Colby / ZUMA Press / IMAGO
Another mysterious flying object has been spotted over northern Canada.
This was announced by the North American Air Defense Command "Norad".
The US military shot down a flying object over the state of Alaska on Friday.
Shortly thereafter, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter that the mysterious flying object had been shot down by a US fighter jet: "I have ordered the downing of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace".
Trudeau went on to say that Canadian and American fighter jets were involved in the downing over the Yukon Territory in the north-west of the country.
An American F-22 aircraft then fired at the object.
"The Canadian forces will now recover and analyze the debris from the object."
Trudeau said he also spoke to US President Joe Biden on the matter.
However, it was initially unclear where the flying object had come from and what purpose it served.
About the size of a small car
The US government justified the shooting down of the second flying object over the state of Alaska on Friday by saying that civilian air traffic was endangered.
The US military has not yet released any information about the origin or mission of the aircraft shot down off the Alaskan coast.
"Currently we have no further details on the object, including its capabilities, purpose or origin," the command staff told Northern Command (Northcom).
All the US government could say was that the flying object was about the size of a small car, much smaller than the Chinese balloon.
According to initial findings, it should not have been manoeuvrable itself.
The salvage work continued, but would be made more difficult by the "arctic weather conditions".
These included icy wind, snow and limited daylight.
The salvage of the debris takes place on the sea ice.
An F-22 fighter jet shot down the object on Friday.
According to the US government, the flying object was first sighted on Thursday evening.
US President Joe Biden was informed immediately and gave the firing order on Friday morning.
The incident was reminiscent of the Chinese balloon, suspected of being used for espionage purposes, that was brought down by the US Air Force a week ago.
According to military information, this had flown at about 18 kilometers but significantly higher than the object over Alaska, which was traveling at an altitude of 12 to 13 kilometers.
The US military let the Chinese balloon hover over the American mainland for several days and then shot it down over the Atlantic off the coast of the state of South Carolina.
The United States accuses China's government of using it to spy on military facilities.
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 additional tension in the already strained relationship between the two countries.
It is still unclear whether there is a connection between the three cases.
Unidentified flying objects are not uncommon.
In 2020, the US Department of Defense set up a task force 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 "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" (UAP) at irregular intervals - most recently a few weeks ago.
It emerged that the US military has no explanation for numerous observations of unidentified flying objects.
Other sightings, however, were classified as "unremarkable" - they could be traced back to common objects in the air - such as drones, balloons and debris such as plastic bags, the report said.
Reports of inexplicable celestial phenomena have increased.
However, the Pentagon had made it clear that no evidence of extraterrestrial life had been found.
czl/mel/dpa/Reuters/AFP