Justin Trudeau orders ‘take down’ of unidentified object in Canadian airspace

Justin Trudeau has ordered the “take down” of an “unidentified object” that “violated” Canadian airspace.

The country’s prime minister tweeted that both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled.

A US F-22 stealth fighter jet, sent by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), “successfully fired at the object”, Mr Trudeau said.

It was taken down over the Yukon, a mountainous and sparsely populated territory in the country’s northwest.

Mr Trudeau said he had spoken to President Biden and thanked NORAD for “keeping the watch over North America”.

“Canadian Forces will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object,” the PM added.

The incident happened the day after the US shot down an unknown object flying in its airspace off the coastline of Alaska on the orders of Mr Biden.

It was flying at an altitude of about 40,000ft and was the size of a small car, the White House said.

In an update on Saturday evening, NORAD said it had “no further details at this time about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin”.

It added that “arctic weather conditions” including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight were a “factor” in the operation.

That object was spotted just days after the US downed a Chinese balloon believed to be a spy aircraft.

China maintained the balloon was an airship for scientific research that had accidentally flown over the US.

It was shot down by fighter jets off the coast of South Carolina – with the US military starting to collect the debris shortly after.

The incident sparked a diplomatic row between China and the US, with secretary of state Antony Blinken postponing a visit to China that had been due to start just a few days later.