U.S. F-22 Has Shot Down An Unidentified Object That Violated Canadian Airspace

File photo of an F-22 firing an AIM-9X Sidewinder.

Another day, another “unidentified object” has been shot down by a U.S. Air Force F-22. It’s the third “kill” scored by a Raptor in a few days: the first one was the famous Chinese high altitude balloon shot down on February 4, 2023, at 2:39 p.m. by an F-22 Raptor, belonging to the 1st Fighter Wing from Langley Air Force Base, shot down with an AIM-9X infrared-guided air-to-air missile off the coast of South Carolina and within U.S. territorial airspace.

The second one was a “high altitude object” described as “cylindrical and silver-ish gray” and appeared to be floating, was shot down by F-22 launched from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson on Feb. 10 over Alaska.

ATC audio from ANCHORAGE CENTER today for the second #ChineseSpyBalloon F-22 kill over the Arctic Ocean. LINK01? (x2 F-22s launched from Elmendorf Air Force Base) BIDEN63/65?! (KC-135s launched from Eielson Air Force Base) along with FATE01? (F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base for… https://t.co/6JwJMdVgmc pic.twitter.com/w7XUVSNio8

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) February 11, 2023

Some more details about the interactions between the interceptors and the unidentified object over Alaska have just been disclosed, adding even more mystery to the encounter.

BREAKING: Some pilots that interacted with the object over Alaska said that it “interfered with their sensors”. Some pilots also claimed to have seen no identifiable propulsion on the object, and could not explain how it was staying in the air – CNN https://t.co/dU1kZnK0oS pic.twitter.com/uzcqtbZGIR

— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) February 11, 2023

The third object was shot down on Feb. 11, over Canada. Details are still scarce, but the fact that the unidentified object was shot down by a U.S. F-22 has been confirmed by Canadian President Trudeau.

I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023

The area of the engagement should be over Yukon:

🚨#UPDATE: Canada has just CLOSED part of their airspace in the Yukon area due to “high altitude contacts pic.twitter.com/sH7cKKUlS7

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 11, 2023

Interestingly, no description of this latest unidentified object has been provided. Nor has the altitude of the engagement been disclosed yet. For the moment we can’t but notice the trend is concerning. What’s particularly interesting is that while the first one was clearly a balloon, the second and third remain unidentified, hence possibly belonging to the category of the so-called UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). Are these objects unmanned aircraft unleashed to spy on the U.S.? Maybe. For sure something is happening and after the criticism caused by the response to the China’s spy balloon (that flew over the U.S. for days before being shot down over the Atlantic Ocean), NORAD has engaged the “intruders” earlier (off the coast of Alaska, over territorial waters on Feb. 10; most probably over an unpopulated area in Canada, on Feb. 11).

BTW, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a binational military command responsible for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning in North America. As a binational command, the NORAD Commander is appointed by and responsible to the Heads of Government of both Canada and the United States (US). Thanks to a binational treaty-level defence agreement between Canada and the US, fighters of both nations can fly air defense missions inside the airspace of the other country. And, engage an intruder with air-to-air missiles, if needed. As happened on Feb. 11.

We will update this post as new details emerge.

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.