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High-altitude object shot down over Alaska, US says
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40 minutes ago
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BBC News, Washington
A "high-altitude object" was shot down over Alaska earlier on Friday, the White House has said.
Spokesman John Kirby said the unmanned object was "the size of a small car" and was over a sparsely populated area at the time.
President Joe Biden decided to shoot down the object, which was of unknown origin, Mr Kirby said.
It comes after the American military destroyed a Chinese balloon over US territorial waters last Saturday.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Kirby explained that the object over Alaska was travelling at 40,000ft (12,000m) and posed a "reasonable threat" to civilian aircraft.
He said the object had fallen into US waters that are frozen, adding that its debris field was "much, much smaller" than the balloon shot down last week off the coast of South Carolina.
"We do not know who owns it, whether it's state owned or corporate owned or privately owned," Mr Kirby said.
The object was first spotted on Thursday night, though officials did not specify a time.
He said two fighter jets had approached the object and assessed there was nobody on board, and this information was available to Mr Biden when he made his decision.
"We're going to remain vigilant about our airspace," Mr Kirby asserted. "The president takes his obligations to protect our national security interests as paramount."
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder confirmed that an F-22 jet, based out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, shot down the object - which was moving at an unknown speed - with a sidewinder missile at 13:45 EST (18:45 GMT).
Mr Ryder said a significant amount of debris had been recovered so far. It was being loaded on to vessels and taken to "labs for subsequent analysis", he added.
Officials have not yet determined whether the object, which was travelling north-east, was involved in surveillance, and Mr Kirby corrected a reporter who referred to it as a balloon.
He did not specify where exactly the object was shot down, but the Federal Aviation Administration said it had closed about 10 sq miles of US airspace airspace above Deadhorse, northern Alaska, before the F-22 fired.
Image caption,
The Pentagon said an F-22, seen here in an archive photograph, shot down the object on Friday afternoon local time
No other objects of a threatening nature have been identified above the US at this time, according to the White House.
Mr Kirby said the object did not appear to have the manoeuvrable capability like the Chinese balloon and seemed to be "virtually at the whim of the wind".
Hours after the US shot down the balloon last Saturday, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Chinese counterpart via their special crisis line.
But Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe declined to pick up, according to the Pentagon.
Chinese officials on Friday accused the US of "political manipulation and hype".
