US Jet Shoots Down New 'Unidentified Object' Over Canada

Facts

• An unidentified high-altitude flying object was shot down over Canada's Yukon territory by a US F-22 fighter jet on Saturday afternoon, in an operation coordinated by the joint US-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).¹
• This was the third time in the span of a week that an American F-22 has shot down a suspicious craft over North America, with Canada's Minister of Defense Anita Anand claiming it was similar to the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina.²
• NORAD reportedly detected the device flying over Alaska late Friday, the same day the US military took down an unknown object over the northern coast of the state.³
• Though multiple theories have emerged about the provenance of the two objects, the Pentagon stressed that it has no further details at this time on their capabilities, purpose, or origin.⁴
• Efforts to recover and analyze the debris of both objects are underway, as officials hope to find surviving evidence about them. While the object spotted in Yukon was described as cylindrical, that downed in Alaska was reportedly a type of airship.⁵
• Hours after Saturday's takedown, the US Federal Aviation Administration temporarily shut down airspace over Montana after NORAD detected a 'radar anomaly.' However, no 'object' was identified.⁶

Sources: ¹NBC, ²Washington Post, ³FOX News, ⁴New York Times, ⁵Business Insider and ⁶New York Post.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. Shooting down this unidentified object was the right decision — it violated US and Canadian airspace and posed a credible threat to civilian flights. As the nature and origin of the two latest objects to be shot down over North America remain unclear, it is crucial to recover them and determine whether they are related to the Chinese spy balloon.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Global times. Unable to deal with political infighting, and seeking to enhance its credibility among allies, the US is desperately trying to look mighty by deploying its allegedly invincible F-22 to shoot down meteorological balloons that are harmless to US national security. If Washington wants to show its strength rather than humiliate itself, the capital should confront Russia on the battlefield instead of cry wolf about China.

Predictions