US President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a fighter jet to shoot down an unidentified “high-altitude object” near Alaska, the White House said.
Spokesman John Kirby said the unmanned object was “about the size of a small car” and posed a “reasonable threat” to civil aviation.
Mr Kirby said the purpose and origin of the objection was unclear.
This comes a week after the US military shot down a Chinese balloon in US waters.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Kirby said the debris from the object that was shot down on Friday was “much, much smaller” than the balloon that was shot down last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.
He said the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,000 meters) over the north coast of Alaska.
It had already flown at 20 to 40 mph (64 km/h) over Alaska and was out over the ocean, traveling toward the North Pole, when it was shot down.
Commercial airlines can fly up to 45,000 feet.
Helicopters and transport planes have been deployed to collect debris from the frozen waters of the Beaufort Sea.
“We don’t 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, although officials did not specify a time.
He said two fighter jets approached the object and determined there was no one on board, and that information was available to Mr. Biden when he made his decision.
“We will be vigilant about our airspace,” Mr Kirby asserted. “The president considers his responsibilities to protect our national security interests paramount.”
According to JEE News, the object appears to have no propulsion.
It appeared to be floating, “cylindrical and silver-ash gray,” the network’s chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raditz said, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pete Ryder said the object was “no match in body or shape” to last week’s Chinese balloon.
They confirmed that the object was shot down by an F-22 jet with a Sidewinder missile at 13:45 EST (18:45 GMT) on Friday.
The fighter jet was shot down from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.
General Ryder said that a considerable amount of debris has been recovered so far. It was being loaded onto ships and taken to “labs for later analysis,” he added.
Officials said they had not yet determined whether the object was involved in surveillance, and Mr. Kirby corrected a reporter who called it a balloon.
It did not specify where the object was shot down, but the Federal Aviation Administration said it closed about 10 square miles of U.S. airspace over Deadhorse, northern Alaska, before the F-22 fired. was given
The site is about 130 miles from the border with Canada, whose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he had been briefed on “an object violating US airspace” and “decided to take action.” supported”.
According to the White House, no other dangerous objects have been identified over the United States at this time.
Mr Kirby said the object did not appear to have the maneuverability of a Chinese balloon and appeared to be “practically airborne”.
Hours after the US shot down the balloon last Saturday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Chinese counterpart through his special crisis line.
But Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe refused to take it, according to the Pentagon.
Chinese officials on Friday accused the US of “political manipulation and hype”.
In an interview Thursday, President Biden defended the handling of the Chinese balloon, saying it was not a “major violation.”
Late on Friday, five Chinese companies and a research firm were added to the US government’s trade blacklist. The US Commerce Department announced that the organizations were placed on the list for alleged support of Chinese military aerospace programs – including airships and balloons.
