STORY: Anand said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the takedown in an operation by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a combined organization of the United States and Canada, adding authorities believe it's the first mission in which NORAD has downed an aerial object.

"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," she said.

Anand said the Canadian Armed Forces with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will recover and analyse the object, which was cylindrical in shape, but added, "it would not be prudent for me to speculate on the origins of the object at this time."

It's the second downing in North America in as many days, after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered another shootdown of an unidentified flying object near Deadhorse, Alaska, a day earlier. On Saturday, the U.S. military remained tight-lipped about what, if anything, it had learned as recovery efforts were underway on the Alaskan sea ice.