Washington: The White House on Friday said a US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object flying high over Alaska.
It is not known what the purpose or origin of the object was, but it was taken down due to the fact that it was a potential threat to civil aviation.
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President Biden said the shoot-down was a success. The object was much smaller than a Chinese balloon which had been shot down by the US military off the Atlantic coast the prior Saturday. It was roughly the size of a small car.
John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesman, said it is unclear who owns the object, whether it is state-owned or corporate-owned.
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The Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said an F-22 Raptor used an AIM-9X missile to take out the object, the same aircraft and munition used to target the alleged Chinese spy balloon.
The incident took place amidst growing concern over a Chinese program to fly surveillance balloons to collect intelligence around the world.
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US officials said such balloons have flown over 40 countries, including at least four times previously over US territory.
Ryder said US recovery teams have finished mapping the debris field from the downed Chinese balloon and “are in the process of searching for and identifying debris on the ocean floor.”
The Chinese government has denied US allegations that the balloon was sent to spy on the United States and said it had simply drifted by accident into US airspace. However, China has rejected an overture by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to speak by phone about the issue.