US and Canada abandon search for three flying objects shot down

The US and Canada have abandoned the search for three of the four flying objects shot down by US fighter jets during the first two weeks of February.

The US had found the remains of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that it shot down on 4 February, but officials now say they have ended the search for three smaller objects shot down later.

Washington has said these were probably civilian-owned balloons.

"Systematic searches" over Alaska, Lake Huron and the Yukon found no debris.

These searches were unsuccessful despite the US military, federal agencies and Canadian partners searching each area using airborne imagery, a variety of sensors, and below-surface scans, said Washington's Northern Command.

The object shot down over Canada's Yukon "was not tied to a scenario that justifies extraordinary search efforts", the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

Other factors behind the decision to end the search included snowfall and a "decreasing probability" the object would be found, they added.

National security spokesman John Kirby said late on Friday that there was a "significant amount" of recovered material, including the "payload structure as well as some of the electronics and the optics".

He added the material had now been sent to an FBI laboratory.

"We're going to learn even more, we believe, by getting a look at the guts inside it and seeing how it worked and what it was capable of," he said.

The US military believes the recovered sensors and electronics may give clues about Beijing's alleged surveillance operation.

China continues to deny that it sent a spy balloon.