First modification:
A US fighter plane shot down on Friday over the state of Alaska, on the orders of President Joe Biden, a high-altitude object that had the size of a small car, the White House reported on Friday.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that many details about the object were unknown, but the United States hoped to recover it after it fell into US territorial waters.
It was not clear where the object came from, Kirby said. “We don’t know who this object belongs to,” he said.
He said the object, which had been flying at about 40,000 feet (12,190 meters), came down in far northeast Alaska near the Canadian border, and that the US pilot’s assessment was that there were no humans on board.
On February 4, the United States shot down a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon transiting the United States off the coast of South Carolina. US authorities have been recovering the remains of the 60-meter-tall balloon and its landing gear of electronics.
Kirby was careful not to classify the new object as a balloon.
He said the discovery of the new object and its trail first came to US attention Thursday night. He said that, unlike the Chinese balloon, this object did not appear to be maneuverable and was at the mercy of the wind.
Biden ordered it torn down early Friday, Kirby said.
Fighter jets assigned to the US Northern Command shot down the object, a US official said. The official said that the territorial waters where the object fell are frozen.
“The unidentified object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights,” the official said.
There were no indications of a military threat to the people on the ground and it was not immediately clear if he was carrying surveillance equipment, the official said.
*Reuters; adapted from its original in English
