‘Small, metallic balloon’: Pentagon issues memo on object shot down over Canada

The unidentified object shot down over Canada on Saturday was a metallic balloon with a payload, according to a memo sent by the Pentagon.

This comes as intrigue has grown over some “objects”, as officials have come to call them, that were shot down after being spotted flying over US and Canadian airspace.

The intrigue over the objects came after the US identified a Chinese balloon it said was used for surveillance and shot it down off the South Carolina coast.

Subsequently, three other “objects” were identified across US and Canadian airspace and downed over the weekend.

An “object” was shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska on Friday, while another one was destroyed over the Yukon on Saturday. On Sunday, the US shot down what it called an octagonal object flying Lake Huron in the Great Lakes region.

The “object” downed in Canadian airspace on Saturday, however, appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” reported CNN, citing the Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday.

It had was previously described as a “cylindrical object” that crossed near “US sensitive sites” before being downed, reported the news network.

The object shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday “subsequently slowly descended” into the water after impact, according to defence officials writing the memo.

It added that “recovery/exploitation” efforts were underway to retrieve the object shot down in Yukon.

It said officials in US and Canada are attempting to identify debris.

The memo stated that the FBI is embedded with Canadian officials who are leading the investigation.

“It should not be assumed that the events of the past few days are connected,” said the memo.

On Monday, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau claimed there appeared to be “some sort of a pattern” with the downing of the “objects”.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday, however, that there was no reason yet to believe the three flying “objects” were in any way connected to the Chinese “spy” balloon shot down by the US on 4 February.