US Shoots Down Unidentified High Altitude Object
US officials say they discovered Chinese spy balloons that are part of an alleged large fleet that is conducting surveillance operations globally.
United States fighter jets on Friday shot down a “high-altitude object” hovering over Alaska after President Joe Biden gave US military approval to take the action.
CNN cited a US official as saying the object, the size of a car, was first detected on Thursday and F-35 fighter jets were sent up to investigate.
Speaking during a White House press briefing, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet (about 12km) and “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.”
Kirby said fighter aircraft engaged with the object again Friday morning but both engagements (conducted on Thursday and Friday) yielded “limited” information. He said:
We were able to get some fighter aircraft up and around it before the order to shoot it down, and the pilots’ assessment was this was not manned.
He said the object was brought down by fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command.
US officials said the object was taken down over frozen Arctic Ocean waters near the Canadian border, about 10 miles off the north coast of Alaska. Kirby added that officials expect to recover the debris from the downed object.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said an F-22 fighter jet from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska took down the object “at 1:45 p.m. eastern standard time”.
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He said the object was shot down by the F-22 with an AIM-9X, the same type of aircraft and missile used to shoot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
A US official said the object did not appear to have any surveillance equipment. It was both smaller and likely less sophisticated than the Chinese balloon shot down last weekend. Ryder said that the Defense Department had no details about the object’s “capabilities, purpose or origin.”
Following the downing of the Chinese balloon that was floating over US airspace last week, the US says China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, is conducting a global surveillance operation.
On Thursday US officials said the spy balloons the US has discovered are part of an alleged large fleet that is conducting surveillance operations globally. The US says it has traced the balloons to 40 countries across five continents.
