Unknown object U.S. shot down near Alaska was heading into Canadian airspace: sources

The unknown high-altitude object that the U.S. shot down near Alaska on Friday was heading into Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.

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.

“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.”

Roughly the size of a small car, the object was first detected Thursday night. Few other details have emerged about its origins and purpose. Travelling at 40,000 feet 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,” 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.

The incident follows the Feb. 4 downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that spent a week traversing Canada and the U.S.

With files from CTV News’ Parliamentary Bureau and the Associated Press