Canada has released the first image of the UFO shot down during the chase over Alaska and the Yukon Territory that followed the now infamous Chinese spy balloon drama of February 2023.
The unusual, grainy and apparently photocopied or printed photograph shows a seemingly circular white object with poorly defined edges, shot down by a US Air Force F-22 stealth fighter on a joint mission with the Canadian Armed Forces.
An unusual feature of the newly released UFO photo is that it had already been designated as “unclassified” within days of the incident, now 19 months old.
One possible reason, as a public affairs officer at Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) warned colleagues, was internal fears that the release of this unclassified UFO image “could create more questions/confusion.”
Canada has released the first image of the UFO shot down during a chase over Alaska and the Yukon that followed the Chinese spy balloon drama of February 2023 (above)
The bizarre image shows a seemingly circular white object that had been shot down by a US Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter on a joint mission with the Canadian Armed Forces. Above, another USAF F-22 Raptor during an air show over Toronto, Canada, on August 31, 2024.
That official, an electronic communications director for Canada’s DND named Taylor Paxton, warned his military colleagues that such confusion would be inevitable “given the current public environment and statements regarding the object’s innocence.”
Paxton suggested that any decision by the Royal Canadian Air Force to post the photo on social media would likely only generate more inquiries from the general public and the press, “regardless of the text accompanying the post.”
He emails, obtained along with the creepy new UFO photo by CTVNews.ca Reporter Daniel Otis, through an open records request, also included efforts by members of the Canadian armed forces to better understand the aircraft that had been shot down.
An email from Canadian Brigadier General Eric Laforest described the UFO as a “cylindrical object.”
“The upper room is metallic, the rest white. A six-metre cable hangs below with a package of some kind suspended,” wrote Brigadier General Laforest. “The best description we have.”
The alleged spy balloon was one of four aerial objects shot down by the United States over eight days in February 2023. An unusual feature of the newly released UFO photo is that it had already been designated “unclassified” within days of these 19-month-old incidents.
One possible reason, as one public affairs officer at Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) warned colleagues, was the Canadian military’s own internal fears that releasing this UFO image “might create more questions/confusion.”
The dark portions visible along the top center of the UFO in this newly released image may represent that upper metallic region or the remains of the supposed “package.”
But the report only adds further mystery to the wave of spy-like UFO activity surrounding the confirmed downing of a genuine Chinese government spy balloon earlier that month off the coast of Myrtle Beach, North Carolina.
Iain Boyd, a professor of aerospace engineering and director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, described the Canadian government’s reluctance to release the image as a national security issue, despite the image’s “unclassified” designation.
“What it boils down to is that these episodes illustrate a potential vulnerability in the U.S. and Canadian defense system,” Boyd said.
“Certainly the failure to provide more information has fueled conspiracy theories,” he told CTVNews.ca, “but the military will likely accept that outcome rather than reveal information that could help an adversary identify defensive weaknesses.”
According to a CTV News report, the network’s journalists plan to request a higher-resolution version of this UFO image from the Canadian military.