The unidentified “objects” the United States shot down over Canada and Alaska are believed to be balloons carrying a payload, a senior US official confirmed to Fox News on Sunday.
Details about the object flying through Canadian airspace were scant over the weekend, but US officials now describe it as a “small metallic balloon with a load attached,” the official told Fox News. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was briefed on the matter Sunday and told the object in Alaskan airspace Friday was also believed to be a balloon.
The objects were “much smaller” than the Chinese spy craft shot down more than a week ago, Schumer told ABC’s “This Week.”
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the objects to be torn down.
US and allied forces had been tracking the object over Canadian territory for more than a day when it was shot down on Saturday.
The United States and Canada say the origin of the ship is unknown; Attempts are underway to recover the debris from the vehicle.
PAYLOAD OF A CHINESE SPY CRAFT LOCATED IN SOUTH CAROLINA WATERS, MOSTLY INTACT: US OFFICIAL
President Joe Biden, right, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the downing of an unknown object in Canadian airspace on Saturday. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool/File)
The White House launched a reading from a call between Biden and Trudeau shortly after Saturday’s operation.
“Out of an abundance of caution and on the recommendation of their military, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau authorized his removal,” the readout read. “President Biden authorized US warplanes assigned to NORAD to conduct the operation and a US F-22 shot down the object on Canadian soil in close coordination with Canadian authorities.”
The object over Canada was the third plane that US forces shot down over North America in the past week. Biden first ordered an F-22 fighter to shoot down a Chinese spy craft off the coast of South Carolina on February 4. The other craft of unknown origin was shot down over frozen waters between Alaska and Canada on Friday.
DEMOCRAT DISCLAIMS ON BIDEN DECISION DELAYING REMOVAL OF CHINESE SPY BALLOON, SAYS ADMINISTRATOR ‘MUST ANSWERS FROM AMERICA’
An F-22 fighter jet takes off from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. (US Northern Command)
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The United States and Canada are currently working to recover the debris from the three ships. However, only the one shot down on the US East Coast is known to be of Chinese origin.
