INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
WASHINGTON: The US military said late on Saturday a radar anomaly prompted the temporary closure of airspace to civilian airplanes in
Montana but no threatening object was detected.The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) sent fighter aircraft to investigate but
the aircraft "did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits
NORAD will continue to monitor the situation."Earlier on Saturday, a United States F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified cylindrical
object over Canada, the second such shootdown in as many days
Canada and the United States have been on heightened alert following an episode earlier this month where a Chinese high-altitude balloon the
United States said was spying was tracked from Montana to South Carolina and then shot down off the coast.The US Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) earlier on Saturday closed and then reopened airspace in Montana after temporarily barring flights in an area about 50
by 50 nautical miles (93 by 93 km) around Havre, Montana, near the Canadian border.The FAA issued similar flight restrictions in response to
the earlier suspected Chinese spy balloon.Three lawmakers said on Twitter there was an unidentified object seen in Montana airspace
Saturday.Representative Matt Rosendale, a Montana Republican, said on Twitter he was in contact with the United States military "and
monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border."He said the issue was because of "an object that could interfere with
Twitter he was "aware of the object in Montana air space and remain in close contact with senior DOD and Administration officials."
