Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said Saturday that the United States shot down an unidentified object that was being tracked in Canadian airspace.
After the US and Canadian military aircraft scrambled, a US F-22 successfully shot down the object.
The White House confirmed that the prime minister had consulted with President Joe Biden.
“I have ordered the downing of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Trudeau tweeted.
“I spoke with President Biden this afternoon,” he added. “Canadian forces will now recover and analyze the remains of the object.”
Trudeau thanked the North American Aerospace Defense Command “for keeping an eye on North America.”
The command said Friday it was continuing recovery efforts off the South Carolina coast of a Chinese spy balloon shot down last week.
Saturday’s statement followed Friday’s downing of a “high-altitude object” flying over Alaskan airspace and Arctic waters. National Security Council official John Kirby described it that way.
