Go Bold #40: Lieutenant-General (Ret) Yvan Blondin discusses the NORAD shoot-downs over North American airspace

The past couple of weeks have had some interesting events happen over the skies of North America.Most of us are aware that the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD as it is commonly known, has for the first time since its creation shot down objects that were in North American airspace.For those that don't know, NORAD is a United States and Canada bi-national organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. According to NORAD, Aerospace warning includes the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands.Perhaps there will be an addition to that statement because the first object shot down on February 4th was a suspected high-altitude surveillance balloon which was deployed by China, who for their part called it a "civilian airship" that had deviated "far from its planned course" due to "limited self-steering capability."Most of us saw footage of the large balloon, which supported an under-slung apparatus including solar panels, and what intelligence officials believe are various instruments and sensors.Floating at an altitude of approximately 60,000 feet, the balloon was first detected over Alaska after which it traveled down through Canada and across the United States.On the direction of military officials and the U.S. Government, NORAD directed fighters to shoot down the balloon once it was off the coast of South Carolina. This location was selected as it posed the least threat to people on the ground. This event was the first time the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor has made an air-to-air kill, and it did so using the relatively new AIM-9X Sidewinder, a short-range heat-seeking missile.This event was followed by subsequent detection's and shoot-downs of high-altitude objects over Northern Alaska on February 10; the Yukon territory on February 11; and Lake Huron on February 12. These objects were described as cylindrical or octagonal, and were floating at altitudes between 20,000 and 40,000 feet, and they were smaller than the balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.Are these balloons a new occurrence? Are they threats to national security or to commercial aviation? Did they fly through gaps in radar coverage? Is using missiles the best way to shoot them down?We invited retired Lieutenant-General Yvan Blondin, the former Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to give his expert opinion in answering these questions and others.General Blondin is eminently qualified to speak to these events as he served as a CF-18 fighter pilot who has conducted NORAD missions, and as a general officer, he served in various command positions at NORAD before serving as the Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force.We can't think of anyone better to discuss this with -- it is exactly what we do here at Go Bold -- we have senior leaders share their expert insight on topics that are meaningful to Allied Forces around the world.As a contextual bonus, we added the actual radio audio between F-22 fighter pilots and controllers during the first NORAD shoot down of the high-altitude balloon off the South Carolina coast on February 4 (this audio is widely available in the public domain).We want to thank Lieutenant-General Blondin for his time and insight in discussing these milestone events for NORAD.Go Bold!