According to the White House, the unidentified objects that were shot down in Canada and Alaska over the past few days does not look like the Chinese spy balloon that was seen near South Carolina last week.

A spokesperson for its National Security Council said they were “much smaller” but added: “We will not definitivelycharacterise them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on.”

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, stated that recovery teams were looking for the object that was shot over his country’s territory in an attempt to determine its purpose.

On Saturday, a stealth fighter aircraft from the US brought it down under Mr Trudeau’s orders. This was the second such incident in two days.

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The most recent shootdown took place in Yukon, a mountainous and sparsely populated region to the northwest.

As he left the area for a previously planned fundraising event, Trudeau stated that “Recovery teams” were on the ground looking for the object.

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Anita Anand, Canada’s defense minister, did not speculate about where the object came a while back.

It was cylindrical in shape, but she said it was smaller that the Chinese balloon that was shot off the coast of South Carolina last week.

She said that the aircraft was flying at 40,000 feet and was a danger to civil air traffic. It was brought down approximately 100 miles from the border at 3.41pm ET (8.41pm GMT) she added.

The Pentagon in the USA stated that the North American Aerospace Defense Command had seen the object late Friday night over Alaska.

After the object crossed into Canada, the US fighter jets were scrambled at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. They were joined by Canadian CF-18s and CP-140s.

According to Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, Pentagon spokesperson, the US F-22 had destroyed the object with an AIM 9X missile after “close coordination between US authorities and Canadian authorities”.

Trudeau stated that the military would recover and analyse the wreckage and that he had spoken with Joe Biden, the US President. He also thanked NORAD for “keeping watch over North America”.

According to the White House, Mr Biden would continue to work closely with Mr Trudeau to “defend airspace”, and added that “leaders discussed the importance to recover the object to determine more details about its purpose or origin.”

This incident occurred the day after an unidentified object flew in the US’s airspace just off Alaska’s coast on Mr Biden’s orders.

According to the White House, it was flying at about 40,000ft altitude and was as small as a small car.

NORAD updated Saturday evening to say it has “no additional details at the moment about the object” including its capabilities, purpose or origin.

It also stated that “arctic weather conditions”, including snow and wind chill, were an “factor” in the recovery operations.

This object was found just days after the US had downed a Chinese balloon thought to be a spy plane.

China maintained the balloon was an airship for scientific and technological research that had accidentally flown above the US.

It was taken down in fighter jets off South Carolina’s coast. The debris was then collected by the US military shortly afterwards.

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According to the Pentagon, most of the balloon was recovered or located.

This incident led to a diplomatic row between China, the US and China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delayed a trip to China that was due to begin just a few days later.