Canada hopes to recover debris of unidentified ‘object’ shot down by US fighter jet

There is “no guarantee” that search teams will be able to recover debris of an unidentified object that was shot down by an American F-22 fighter over the Canadian territory of the Yukon on Saturday.

Search teams have been deployed in the area, but defence minister Anita Anand tweeted on Monday that the debris is “located in a remote location northeast of Dawson City, in complex alpine terrain that is prone to challenging northern weather conditions.”

The aerial object was brought down by an F-22 jet at approximately 3.41pm on Saturday. A statement from the prime minister’s office (PMO) that day had said the operation was authorised after a telephonic conversation between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden. It was the fourth such incident within the span of just over a week, beginning with the Americans shooting down what was described as a Chinese surveillance balloon on February 4. That balloon had also violated Canadian airspace.

Two other similar objects have also brought down by American plans.

Speaking to reporters in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon territory, on Monday, Trudeau said significantly that there was “obviously” some sort of “pattern” linking these four incidents. “The fact we are seeing this in a significant degree over the past week is a cause for interest and close attention,” he said.

He was in the Yukon for unrelated engagements which had been scheduled prior to the aerial episode.

“We’ve deployed significant resources here to be able to recover the object, as well as diplomatic and international engagements going on to find more information and to get solutions on this,” Trudeau said, adding, “Our focus right now is on recovering it.”

However, Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesperson Sean McGillis said during a briefing on Monday, “We’re working very hard to locate them but there’s no guarantee we will.” However, he was “hopeful” that the debris will be recovered for analysis.

Anand tweeted that the Canadian Air Force has deployed five aircraft to “support efforts to recover the debris from the object that was taken down over Yukon.” The search operation is being coordinated by Public Safety Canada.

During the briefing on Monday, Canadian Armed Forces Major-General Paul Prevost said three of the objects were smaller in size and didn’t look like the surveillance balloon but “follow the same pattern.”

Trudeau discussed the matter in his first meeting with the new Premier of the Yukon, Indo-Canadian Ranj Pillai, since the latter recently became its leader. A release from the PMO said they “discussed recent developments concerning the unidentified object flying over Yukon that violated Canadian airspace last week”.