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Image of Mysterious Object shot down by USAF F-22 over Canada in 2023
More questions and uncertainty to the object floating over Canada in 2023 were added after a new image of the unidentified object itself was released. The object was shot down by a US Air Force (USAF) F-22 Raptor stealth jet over the Yukon.
As reported by CTVNews, that obtained the image through an information request with Canada’s Department of National Defence, the grainy, blurry image captured the “cylindrical” “suspected balloon” 40,000 feet above the Great White North in February 2023 days before it was taken out.
The object, which was first tracked flying over Alaska eight days earlier, was shot down by a USAF F-22 on Feb. 11, 2023.
According to the New York Post, officials in the US and Canada began tracking the UFO again when it crossed into Canadian airspace, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the order to shoot it down just after 4:50 p.m.
Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a Raptor successfully fired at the object by means of an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile.
US President Joe Biden authorized the US military to work with Canada to take down the high-altitude craft after a call between Biden and Trudeau.
USAF F-22 fighter jets from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, monitored the object as it crossed over into Canadian airspace, where Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joined the formation to further assess the object.
Smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down on Feb. 4, 2023
Last year Anita Anand, then Canadian Defence Minister, said that the object was cylindrical in shape but she declined to speculate about the origin of the object.
She said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina’s coast on Feb. 4, 2023, but she stopped short of calling it a balloon though similar in appearance.
Anand added that aloft at 40,000 feet (12,200 m), it posed a risk to civilian air traffic and was shot down at 3:41 EST (2041 GMT).
The mysterious object was spotted amid three other cases in which North America dealt with unidentified objects in the sky.
The Canadian government was prepared to release the photo of the Yukon object since last year.
“Attached is an image approved to be released,” Canadian military leaders wrote in a Feb. 15, 2023, email, according to TCVNews. “We are looking at getting a better one to send to you.”
Photo never seeing the light of day for over a year and a half
The acting assistant deputy minister for public affairs questioned whether the public should see the image it just before the Department of National Defence released it.
“Should the image be released, it would be via the [Canadian armed forces] social media accounts,” the official wrote.
“Given the current public environment and statements related to the object being benign, releasing the image may create more questions/confusion, regardless of the text that will accompany the post.”
It was later recommended the Canadian department should wait on the release “pending US engagement,” leading to the photo never seeing the light of day for over a year and a half.
Three objects were spotted floating over North America before they were downed over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron, respectively, between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12.
Both the Canadian Mounties and the US called off the efforts to find the wrecks days later after searches for the debris from all three objects were conducted.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and Department of National Defence / CTV News
