The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday night temporarily closed airspace in Montana after the U.S. military detected a “radar anomaly” in the sky, Pentagon officials said, marking the third mysterious incident in North American airspace over just the past 24 hours.Military officials said that U.S. fighter jets were dispatched but did not find an object.
“With the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration, North American Aerospace Defense Command implemented a temporary flight restriction airspace in central Montana on Feb. 11, 2023, to ensure the safety of air traffic in the area during NORAD operations,” NORAD and U.S. Northern Command said in a statement late Saturday evening. “The restriction has been lifted. NORAD detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate. Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation.”
The temporary airspace closure came just hours after American fighter jets shot down a cylindrical UFO in the skies over Canada’s Yukon Territory.
While military officials said that U.S. pilots did not identify a UFO, Montana lawmakers said earlier Saturday evening that the airspace was closed due to an object in the skies.
“I am in direct contact with [U.S. Northern Command] and monitoring the latest issue over Havre [Montana] and the northern border.
Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic — the DoD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, Montana Republican, said in a Twitter message.
Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, echoed reports of an object.
“I am aware of the object in Montana airspace and remain in close contact with senior DoD and administration officials. I am closely monitoring the situation and am receiving regular updates. I will continue to demand answers for the American public,” he said in a Twitter post.
The brief airspace shutdown came just hours after a U.S. fighter aircraft shot down a “high altitude airborne object” flying over Canadian airspace on Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a post on Twitter that Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled after an unidentified object violated Canadian airspace. The object, later described by Canadian officials as a small “cylindrical” object, was shot down over Canada’s Yukon territory by a U.S. F-22 fighter.
It was the second UFO to be shot down over the past 24 hours. On Friday, U.S. fighter jets shot down an unidentified object over Alaskan coastal waters.
Both of those objects were described as being much smaller than the massive Chinese surveillance balloon that traveled over the U.S. last week before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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