North American officials have confirmed the shooting down of three flying objects they say violated airspace regulations in the past three days. It comes after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon floating above its airspace earlier this month.
The Shoot Downs
Three unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been shot down in the past three days – two above U.S. airspace, and one above Canada. On Friday (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the shooting down of a flying object above Alaska. White House officials said it was flying at 40,000 feet, and “posed a reasonable threat” to civilian flights.
The next day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that another UFO was shot down over Yukon, a territory in northwest Canada. The Canadian Government said this was a cylindrical object smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down in U.S. airspace. It was intercepted by the Northern American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.- Canadian organisation that defends airspace above both countries. On Sunday, it was announced that another UFO was shot down near the U.S. state of Michigan.
What do we know?
It’s not known if the three latest UFOs shot down were related, or from the same operators. Authorities have also not linked any of the three recent UFOs to any foreign government. The White House said there was “no indication” the UFO shot down over Alaska was surveillance-related. Trudeau said the wreckage from the Yukon UFO would be analysed by Canadian forces to understand more.
What about the Chinese balloon?
U.S. officials are adamant that the Chinese balloon shot down earlier this month was used for spying purposes as it was flying over sensitive military sites. Beijing confirmed that balloon was from China, but said it was mainly used to understand weather patterns, not for intelligence-gathering. They say it was accidentally blown off its original course into U.S. airspace, and regretted its “unintended entry”.
