The US military shot down an unidentified object over Alaska on Friday on the orders of President Biden.
It has not been confirmed whether it was a spy balloon or a drone. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet (about 12 kilometres) which would potentially make it dangerous for civil aviation, the Pentagon said.
Biden’s takedown order was given “just in case,” authorities said.
BREAKING: The White House confirms another flying object was shot down off the coast of Alaska about an hour ago. pic.twitter.com/Rc3bo7yqtm
— Forbes (@Forbes) February 10, 2023
A Pentagon spokesman said Friday that the object was “about the size of a small car.”
At the time of the downing, which was carried out by an F-22 fighter, the object was flying over a sparsely populated area in the northeastern tip of Alaska, near the border with Canada. The debris fell into US territorial waters. A large operation was immediately organized at the scene to find the wreckage.
A US Air Force HC-130J is now flying off the Alaskan coast, flying as low as 725 feet at times. https://t.co/AbHcysFugz pic.twitter.com/AxJ9FzRWo8
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 10, 2023
Its origin is unknown. “We don’t know who owns it, a government, a company or an individual,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
The object was located on Thursday afternoon. It was approached by a fighter and found to be unmanned, information President Biden learned of.
For now, the New York Times reports, there is no indication whether the object was carrying spy equipment.
The incident comes a week after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the Atlantic coast. The balloon had crossed almost all of the US territory from the northwest. After the shoot-down, the US said it was carrying spy equipment and was not for scientific/meteorological use as claimed by Beijing.
