The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed the airspace around the city of Havre in Montana, near the border with Canada, on Saturday, saying that the closure was implemented to support US Department of Defense activities. US Senator from Montana Jon Tester said on Twitter on Saturday that he was "aware of the object in Montana air space."
"With the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) 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. The restriction has been lifted," NORAD said later on Saturday.
According to the statement, no suspicious objects were detected.
"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 said.
Earlier on Saturday, NORAD said in a statement to Sputnik that it was tracking "a high-altitude airborne object" over northern Canada. Later in the day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the unidentified object was shot down by a US F-22 aircraft over the Yukon. The White House said that the downed object had been tracked over 24 hours and was unmanned.