The search is on for objects shot down over Canada, U.S. Here’s what we know – National

United States fighter jets have shot down a total of four aerial objects over American and Canadian airspace since initial reports of a suspected Chinese spy balloon emerged nearly two weeks ago.

That balloon, which China has claimed was a weather aircraft, was shot down on Feb. 4 off the U.S. east coast — two days after American officials first acknowledged it and a week after it first entered U.S. and Canadian airspace. In the eight days since that takedown, American jets have shot down three “unidentified objects” over Alaska, Yukon and Lake Huron near Ontario and Michigan.

The additional objects — the origins of which are not yet clear — have put continental security forces on “heightened alert,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, told reporters on Sunday.

While the Chinese balloon has been recovered and is being examined by American personnel, officials are still searching for the other three objects to determine what they were and where they’re from.

Here is what we know, and don’t know, so far.

After news of the suspected spy balloon emerged earlier this month, the U.S. military has been adjusting its radar to find flying objects — including balloons — that are smaller, slower and differently shaped than enemy aircraft and missiles that have long preoccupied the Pentagon.

“We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase,” Melissa Dalton, assistant defence secretary for U.S. homeland defence, said in an Associated Press story on Monday.

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Trudeau visits Yukon on pre-planned trip after U.S. shoots down flying object

The recent takedowns of the three still-unidentified objects began on Friday when the United States shot down a “high-altitude” object as it flew over Alaska near the northern Canadian border.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby would not say at the time if the…