Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed that another unidentified object has been shot down in North American airspace.
He said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over the Yukon in northwestern Canada.
Both Canadian and American planes were scrambled to track the object, which Mr. Trudeau said was taken out by an American F-22 fighter jet.
This is the third object shot down in North America in the past week.
The US military destroyed a Chinese balloon last weekend, and on Friday an unspecified object the size of a small car was shot down over Alaska.
Mr Trudeau confirmed on Saturday that he had given the order and had spoken to US President Joe Biden.
“Canadian forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object,” he wrote on Twitter.
Defense Minister Anita Anand told reporters that the latest unidentified object was flying at an altitude of about 40,000 feet (12,000 meters) over the central Yukon and was intercepted at about 15:41 local time on Saturday.
He described it as “small” and “cylindrical”, but restoration efforts are underway to discover more details.
Ms Anand said it had been flown “about 100 miles” from the US border, adding that it was a “reasonable risk to civil aviation”.
It said it “looked smaller than the one shot off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday” — meaning the large Chinese suspected spy balloon measuring 200 feet (60 meters) in length.
Posting earlier on Twitter, Prime Minister Trudeau thanked the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which provides air defense for the United States and Canada, and led the mission.
The object was tracked and monitored “over the past 24 hours,” the White House said.
“Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their troops, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized his removal,” it said.
“The leaders discussed the importance of recovering the object to determine more details about its purpose or origin.”
Giving more details about the mission to bring down the object, the US Department of Defense confirmed that two F-22 jets took off from a military base in Anchorage, Alaska and shot down the object with an AIM 9X missile.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pete Ryder added that the FBI will work closely with Canadian police.
Separately on Saturday, the US military also shot down fighter jets over Montana because some airspace was closed – but that turned out to be a “radar anomaly” and nothing unusual was detected.
The latest sighting of the object over North America comes just a week after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was also shot down by the US.
On Friday, another unidentified object was tracked and shot down over Alaska at the behest of US President Biden.
In a brief statement, the military said U.S. troops, including the Alaska National Guard, were still conducting search and recovery activities for Friday’s object on the sea ice.
He said he had no further details about the object’s capabilities, purpose or origin, but confirmed that the FBI was assisting with the recovery near Dead Horse, Alaska.
“Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” he added. added – and that the rescue operation will continue as weather permits.
Late last week, defense officials told US media that debris from a Chinese balloon landed in 47 feet (14 meters) of water – less than they expected – near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
China has denied the balloon – which first entered US airspace on January 28 – was used for spying purposes, saying it was a weather instrument.
However, the US said the balloon was part of a fleet of surveillance balloons that had flown over five continents.
