The Federal Aviation Authority closed the airspace above Havre airport in Montana after it reported an object that could hinder commercial air traffic. This happened four hours after US F-22 shot down a “small cylindrical object” over Canada.
Matt Rosendale, the Republican congressman from Montana informed about another object. But he said that it would not be shot down until day broke on Sunday.
It will be the fourth object if shot down successfully after a spy balloon was shot in South Carolina last week, another object taken down on Friday above Alaska, and the latest above Canada’s Yukon province.
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, informed earlier on Saturday that he had requested US and Canadian forces to intercept “an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” and a US F-22 shot it down at 3:41 pm Eastern Standard Time. Four hours later FAA closed Montana airspace citing “national defence” as the reason behind it.
A KC-135 Stratotanker, an American military aerial refuelling aircraft circled the area, according to FlightRadar.com. But it wasn’t clear what was going on in above Montana. At 8:20 pm EST, the aircraft was seen leaving the area and moving to the west of Montana.
The FAA later reopened the airspace. In the meantime, Canada’s defence minister confirmed that it was a small cylindrical object that was not as big as the South Carolina spy balloon.
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Two F-22 jets took off from Alaska, US and two F-18 from Alberta, Canada with instructions to shoot down the object whoever had a clear shot first. It was shot down by an AIM-9X missile at 3:41 pm EST that was flying at about 40,000 feet. Canada PM informed via tweet that teams were trying to recover the debris from a CP-140.
Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand, appreciated the joint operation. She denied speculating the origins of the object when questioned if it belonged to China. She said they are working to confirm the details.
