A photograph of an unidentified flying object (UFO) that was shot down by a US fighter jet over Canadian airspace in February 2023 has been made public. The image, which appears to be a photocopy of an email printout, shows a blurry cylindrical object hovering in the air before it was brought down in Canada‘s Yukon Territory, near the Alaskan border, as reported by CTVNews, who obtained the image through an information request from Canada’s department of national defence.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command initially detected the “high-altitude airborne object” flying at approximately 40,000 feet over Alaska and dispatched jets to observe it, according to a report of Fox News. The object drifted from Alaska into Canadian airspace before being shot down on February 11, 2023. This incident occurred shortly after the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon and was one of three aerial objects brought down that month.
“Yesterday afternoon, I also spoke with President Biden and confirmed together that we will continue to do everything necessary to protect the sovereignty of our shared North American airspace but also to do everything necessary to keep our citizens safe,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the time.
The object was shot down by a US F-22 Raptor using an AIM 9X missile and was believed to be a “small metallic balloon with a tethered payload.”
President Biden later clarified that the three objects were not connected to the Chinese spycraft incident. The Canadian government initially declassified the UFO image but later authorized the public release.
However, the acting assistant deputy minister for public affairs questioned whether the public should be allowed to view it, saying in an internal email, “Should the image be released, it would be via the [Canadian armed forces] social media accounts. 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.” The release of the image was subsequently held back pending “US engagement.”
