US and Canada Scramble to Recover UFOs Shot Down Over Weekend

Authorities are scrambling to learn more about the three unidentified flying objects (UFOS) shot down by U.S. aircraft this weekend. 

On Friday, the U.S. military shot down an object they described as the size of a small car over Alaska. The very next day, another object was shot down over Yukon by the U.S. military at the request of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Then on Sunday yet another object was downed, this one over Lake Huron where its debris is believed to have landed in Canadian waters.

Authorities are still working to recover some of the downed UFOs including the one shot down over the Great Lakes. Defense experts have said that the effort to recover the UFO in Alaska is underway but is being actively hampered by extremely low temperatures in the area—with it dropping to -55 F (-48 C.) The object is believed to have been downed near Prudhoe Bay, a small community home to North America’s largest oil field. Civilians in the Yukon, where a recovery mission for the object down on Saturday is underway, were warned by the RCMP to stay away from the debris site. 

In total, four objects have been shot down by U.S. aircraft over the past week including the Chinese balloon that many speculated was being used for information-gathering purposes. Authorities say they don’t believe the objects held a military threat but they were a hazard for commercial airliners and were near “sensitive” sites for U.S. national security. 

U.S. authorities have offered limited information on the nature of the objects, even going so far as to not rule out if they’re extraterrestrial in origin. However, one defense official, speaking anonymously with Reuters, said they have seen no evidence they’re tied to alien life. 

It’s not just in North America where unknown flying objects are being actively investigated. The Uruguayan Air Force said Friday it is investigating “flashing lights in the sky.” On Sunday Chinese state media put out a warning that maritime authorities had “spotted an unidentified flying object in waters… and were preparing to shoot it down.” On Saturday night, officials shut down airspace over Montana because NORAD “detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate,” but they did not “identify any object.”  

Some of the top American officials involved in investigating the downed objects held a briefing for reporters on Sunday. During the briefing Melissa Dalton,  assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs said that because of the initial Chinese balloon, the United States has been “more closely scrutinizing our air space at these altitudes” which “may at least partly explain the increase in objects that we've detected.”

“So I'm not going to categorize these balloons,” said General Glen VanHerck, the commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command. “We call them objects for a reason. Certainly, the event off the South Carolina coast for the Chinese spy balloon, that was clearly a balloon.” 

“These are objects. I am not able to categorize how they stay aloft.”

Other officials, such as Canadian Minister of National Defence Anita Anand, and Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer offered a bit more clarity into the objects. Anand described the object shot down in the Yukon as similar to the Chinese balloon but “smaller in size and cylindrical in nature.” Anand said it was far too early to tell where the object came from. 

The amount of information about the downed objects is limited and many questions remain. Unsurprisingly with literal unknown flying objects being shot down by NORAD and an information vacuum, “UFO-mania” has gripped North America. 

Speaking to Face the Nation, CBS News' national security correspondent David Martin called the downing of these objects an “expensive habit.” He explained that the winds bring many objects to Alaska and northern Canada, and for a long time they were ignored, however, the Chinese balloon changed that. 

“There is a lot of what officials call sky trash up there,” said Martin. “And sky trash includes balloons that are put up by governments, that are put up by corporations, that are put up by research institutes, and probably just by private individuals, and not for nefarious purposes, but just to collect scientific data.” 

The idea of "sky trash" hasn’t stopped many enterprising minds from speculating on the possible alien nature of these objects. Speaking with reporters, VanHerck only added fuel to the fire when asked if objects could be extraterrestrial. 

“I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out,” he said. “I haven't ruled out anything.”