US reopens Montana airspace after ‘radar anomaly’ sparks concern

The US reopened airspace over Montana after temporarily ordering a closure to investigate a “radar anomaly,” hours after a third object was shot down in North America this month.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad), a joint US-Canada military command responsible for aerospace and maritime warning, said it detected the anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate. The aircraft did not identify any object that correlated to the radar hits, according to a statement late on Saturday (Feb 11). 

Norad added it will continue to monitor the situation. 

The incident is the latest in an escalating aerial drama that came to the forefront after an alleged Chinese spy balloon traversed the continent earlier this month. The balloon was shot down a week ago, followed by the takedown of a smaller unidentified object over Alaska last Friday, and on Saturday, a third object was downed over northern Canada. 

The Federal Aviation Administration earlier said flights were restricted “to support Department of Defense activities”, according to a statement. BLOOMBERG