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article states that it was on Canada's orders. I didn't know that was a thing, Canadian PM having the power to command US jets. Can anyone who knows more abou

article states that it was on Canada's orders. I didn't know that was a thing, Canadian PM having the power to command US jets. Can anyone who knows more about NORAD weigh in with an ELI5?

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
Authorize US jets you mean? Canada is a close US ally, norad allows both US and Canada to learn about the object at the same time, and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  A close enough ally that the US was willing to sell nuclear tipped SAMs to Canada during the cold war. The only reason it didn't happen is because the general public flipped shit when they found out about the plan.
- fuzzfactor 4y ago
  Ultimately, it's the Canadian Geese at risk so you've got to let them make the final call.
- throw0101c 4y ago
  > […] and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon The US was monitoring it on Friday: > A statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the object shot down on Saturday was first noticed over Alaska on Friday evening. Two F-22 fighter jets “monitored the object” with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard, Ryder’s statement said, “tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object.” * https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/norad-additional-object-northern-canada/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/norad-additional-obj... However: > Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a news conference the "small, cylindrical object" was about 40,000 feet above ground and downed — due to possible risks to civilian aviation — at around 3:40 p.m. ET about 100 miles from the U.S. border in central Yukon. > A senior government source with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that the Canadian government was first alerted to the object Friday night when it was still travelling through Alaska. > The source added the object crossed into Yukon on Saturday morning and Trudeau ordered the shoot down by whichever country arrived at it first. * https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-monitoring-airborne-object-north-1.6745575 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-monitoring-airborne-o... So it looks like the US 'took too long' to decide to shoot it down, and once it crossed the border Canada had final authorization. The US jets just happened to be closer (CA jets were scrambled as well).
dehrmann 4y ago
Maybe they played the NATO card.
larrywright 4y ago
NORAD is North American Aerospace Defense. It’s bi-national - both US and Canada.
JohnBooty 4y ago
Because of our shared landmass USA and Canada cooperate closely via NORAD. The US and Canada have gameplanned for all sorts of scenarios similar to this, and up to and including full nuclear war. They have established playbooks for alllllll kinds of scenarios. Because when shit goes down, you there is NO TIME to gameplan. No, you pull binder #568 off of the shelf and get to work executing gameplan #568, "US jets pursue craft into Canada" or whatever. There is a playbook for this kind of thing, and they are following it. The playbook possibly does include some kind of explicit authorization from the Canadian PM for the final shootdown. So in reality this is certainly more "Trudeau authorized it" than "ordered it", because the US and Canada definitely can't order each other do things. However, for obvious optics purposes, they phrased it as "Trudeau ordered the shootdown." Because it looks sort of weak to the untrained eye if Trudeau just sort of allowed it. However, the actual wording is sort of irrelevant. The reality is that it was a fairly seamless bit of cooperation between two close allies.
peeters 4y ago
It's not so much that he commanded US jets, he gave an order for the object to be shot down by the first able aircraft, and included authorization for that to be US aircraft. I don't anything is implying that the US pilot bypassed US chain of command to do so. Trudeau had obviously been discussing strategy with the US, but it's important for Canadian sovereignty for the order to come from Canada.

article states that it was on Canada's orders. I didn't know that was a thing, Canadian PM having the power to command US jets. Can anyone who knows more about NORAD weigh in with an ELI5?

kylehotchkiss 4y ago

Authorize US jets you mean? Canada is a close US ally, norad allows both US and Canada to learn about the object at the same time, and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
A close enough ally that the US was willing to sell nuclear tipped SAMs to Canada during the cold war. The only reason it didn't happen is because the general public flipped shit when they found out about the plan.
fuzzfactor 4y ago
Ultimately, it's the Canadian Geese at risk so you've got to let them make the final call.
throw0101c 4y ago
> […] and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon The US was monitoring it on Friday: > A statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the object shot down on Saturday was first noticed over Alaska on Friday evening. Two F-22 fighter jets “monitored the object” with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard, Ryder’s statement said, “tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object.” * https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/norad-additional-object-northern-canada/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/11/politics/norad-additional-obj... However: > Defence Minister Anita Anand said in a news conference the "small, cylindrical object" was about 40,000 feet above ground and downed — due to possible risks to civilian aviation — at around 3:40 p.m. ET about 100 miles from the U.S. border in central Yukon. > A senior government source with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that the Canadian government was first alerted to the object Friday night when it was still travelling through Alaska. > The source added the object crossed into Yukon on Saturday morning and Trudeau ordered the shoot down by whichever country arrived at it first. * https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-monitoring-airborne-object-north-1.6745575 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/norad-monitoring-airborne-o... So it looks like the US 'took too long' to decide to shoot it down, and once it crossed the border Canada had final authorization. The US jets just happened to be closer (CA jets were scrambled as well).

dehrmann 4y ago

Maybe they played the NATO card.

larrywright 4y ago

NORAD is North American Aerospace Defense. It’s bi-national - both US and Canada.

JohnBooty 4y ago

Because of our shared landmass USA and Canada cooperate closely via NORAD. The US and Canada have gameplanned for all sorts of scenarios similar to this, and up to and including full nuclear war. They have established playbooks for alllllll kinds of scenarios. Because when shit goes down, you there is NO TIME to gameplan. No, you pull binder #568 off of the shelf and get to work executing gameplan #568, "US jets pursue craft into Canada" or whatever. There is a playbook for this kind of thing, and they are following it. The playbook possibly does include some kind of explicit authorization from the Canadian PM for the final shootdown. So in reality this is certainly more "Trudeau authorized it" than "ordered it", because the US and Canada definitely can't order each other do things. However, for obvious optics purposes, they phrased it as "Trudeau ordered the shootdown." Because it looks sort of weak to the untrained eye if Trudeau just sort of allowed it. However, the actual wording is sort of irrelevant. The reality is that it was a fairly seamless bit of cooperation between two close allies.

peeters 4y ago

It's not so much that he commanded US jets, he gave an order for the object to be shot down by the first able aircraft, and included authorization for that to be US aircraft. I don't anything is implying that the US pilot bypassed US chain of command to do so. Trudeau had obviously been discussing strategy with the US, but it's important for Canadian sovereignty for the order to come from Canada.