Incident · 11 February 2023 · Central Yukon, Canada (between Dawson City and Mayo)
Yukon object shot down by a NORAD F-22 (11 February 2023)
Also known as Yukon shoot-down, Yukon high-altitude object, Yukon UAP
Partly explained. The intelligence community's assessment, given by the President on 16 February 2023, was that the three objects shot down that week were most likely private, recreational or research balloons, and Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff called it a “suspected balloon”; no debris was ever found. (source)
On 11 February 2023, a week after the Chinese high-altitude balloon was shot down off South Carolina and a day after another object was downed over northern Alaska, a U.S. Air Force F-22 assigned to NORAD shot down a small object flying at about 40,000 feet over central Yukon. NORAD had detected it over Alaska the evening before; Canadian and U.S. fighters were scrambled, and Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden both ordered it brought down. Defence Minister Anita Anand said it had unlawfully entered Canadian airspace, posed a reasonable threat to civilian flight and appeared to be "a small, cylindrical object", and that this was, to the best of her knowledge, the first time a NORAD operation had downed an aerial object. The Pentagon said an AIM-9X Sidewinder was used.
The Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP searched the wilderness between Dawson City and Mayo for the wreckage. Within days the Chief of the Defence Staff was calling it a "suspected balloon", and on 17 February the RCMP called off the search: the most likely area had been searched without finding debris, snow had fallen, and the object was not believed to justify extraordinary efforts. Nothing was ever recovered.
On 16 February the President gave the intelligence community's assessment that the Yukon, Alaska and Lake Huron objects were most likely private, recreational or research balloons. A reporter later linked the Yukon object to a missing amateur pico balloon; that link is unconfirmed. The next day's Lake Huron shoot-down is the sister case; unlike it, no Yukon footage is in the Department of War's PURSUE releases.
Sources: Minister Anand's statement of 11 February 2023 (National Defence) · President's remarks of 16 February 2023 (Compilation of Presidential Documents) · Sky Canada report (2025) · Associated Press, Global News and CBC reports of February 2023
Facts and claims
- documented Canada's Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand: “Today, at the direction of the Prime Minister, aircraft assigned to NORAD successfully took down this high-altitude airborne object at approximately 3:41 pm Eastern Standard Time. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a NORAD operation has downed an aerial object.” Source: canada.ca (archived)
- documented Anand: “The object was flying at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet, had unlawfully entered Canadian airspace, and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. The object was downed approximately 100 miles from the Canada, United States Border, over Canadian territory, in central Yukon.” Source: canada.ca (archived)
- documented Anand: “We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose, or origin. It appears to be a small, cylindrical object, smaller than the one downed off the coast of North Carolina.” (The Chinese balloon had been shot down off South Carolina.) Source: canada.ca (archived)
- documented Anand said NORAD detected the object and launched Canadian and U.S. fighters, and that it “was visually identified using fighter aircraft assigned to NORAD”; recovery operations were to be supported by the Canadian Armed Forces “in coordination with the RCMP”. Source: canada.ca (archived)
- claimed According to a statement by Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder reported by the Associated Press, two F-22s from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson had monitored the object over Alaska as it crossed into Canadian airspace, and it was taken out with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile; the shot was fired by a U.S. jet. Source: adn.com (archived)
- claimed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on 11 February: “I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America.” Source: adn.com (archived)
- claimed On 17 February the RCMP called off the search: “The highest probability area has been searched and the debris was not located … Given the snowfall that has occurred, the decreasing probability the object will be found and the current belief the object is not tied to a scenario that justifies extraordinary search efforts, the RCMP is terminating the search.” Source: globalnews.ca (archived)
- claimed A few days into the search, Canada's Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, called the object a “suspected balloon”, CBC reported. Source: cbc.ca (archived)
- documented The President said on 16 February 2023 that NORAD had tracked “three unidentified objects: one in Alaska, Canada, and over Lake Huron in the Midwest”, that he gave the order to take them down “in consultation with the Canadian government”, and that “these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research”. Source: govinfo.gov (archived)
- documented The Sky Canada report of June 2025 sums up: “NORAD ordered the downing of a smaller balloon over Yukon Territory.” Source: Management of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in Canada: Report of the Sky Canada Project (June 2025)
- claimed Aviation Week reporter Steve Trimble told CBC of a possible match: an amateur pico balloon of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade that last transmitted on 11 February near Hagemeister Island, off south-west Alaska, and was projected to drift over Yukon. No official body has confirmed the link. Source: cbc.ca (archived)
Connected files
Documents
- Management of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in Canada: Report of the Sky Canada Project (June 2025) (mentioned in) — “NORAD ordered the downing of a smaller balloon over Yukon Territory”
Incidents
- Lake Huron object shot down by an F-16 (12 February 2023) (followed by) — The next day an F-16 brought down “the third of three unidentified objects shot down over North America in as many days” over Lake Huron
Mentioned in this file
- Department of War (Department of Defense) (Organization)
- PURSUE — Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (Program)
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