A US fighter jet on Friday shot down an object, the size of a small car, flying with payloads at a height of about 40,000 feet off the northern coast of Alaska on the direction of Presidentཧ Joe Biden, officials said.
This came almost a week after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. It had hovered 🌠over continental America for seve🍷ral days after entering the US airspace on January 30 in Montana.
China has acknowledged that the ba♛lloon was theirs but denied that it was for surveillance purposes rather for weather monitoring and that it had drifted off course.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said that the unidentified object, shot down on Friday, raises serious national sec⭕urity concerns.
"This latest intrusion into our airspace raises serious questions about the White House's decision to not shoot down a Chinese spy balloon last week when it was above the Aleutian C𒐪hain and prevent it from flying over important military sites in the Lower-48," he said.
What does the Pentagon say?
According to Pentagon P🌳ress Secretary Brigadier General Pat R💧yder, the object, whose origin is not known so far, was first detected inside American airspace on Thursday. It posed a "reasonable threat to civilian air traffic", he said.
"US Northern Command is beginning rec♍overy operations now," Ryder said, adding the F-22 fighter jet deployed an AIM-9X missile to take down 𒉰the object.
About the unidentified object over Alaska, Ryder told reporters at a news conferenceꦉ, "At the direction of the President of the United States, fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully took down a high-altitude airborne object off the northern coast of Alaska at 1:45 pm Eastern Standard Time today within US sovereign airspace over US territori𝓰al water. We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose or origin."
The object was about the size of a small car, not similar in size or shape to the high-altitude surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina on February 𒅌4, he said.
The news of shooting down the unꦑidentified object was 🤪first announced by the White House.
"Ou🎐t of an abundance of caution and at the꧅ recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object. They did, and it came inside our territorial waters.
"Those waters right now are frozen but inside territorial airspace and over territorial wa💦ters," National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at the White 💮House.
Ryder said ꦬthe r꧒ecovery of the debris is taking place in a mix of ice and snow.
"The object was travelling northeasterly across Alaska. A two-ship flight of F-35s conducted identificatওio♎n of the object," he said.
&🌺quot;An F-22 out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson -- assigned to U.S. Northern Command -- shot down the object with an AIM-9X missile near Deadhorse, Alas🌃ka," Ryder said.
According to him, since the unidentified object posed a threat to civilian air traffic, a decision༒ was taken to shoot it down.
What's the update on downed Chinese spy balloon
"In terms of the spy balloon (dow🃏ned aౠ week ago), we have learnt a lot about the Chinese surveillance high-altitude balloon programme," he said.
"We gathered a lot of information over the last couple of years. Based on that, we were able to detect it at a very early stage as it approached US air space and we had a good understanding of what it was. We were able to monitor that closely while it went over the continental United States, learn a lot about it and take it dowꦉn at the appropriate time," the Pentagon Press Secretary said.
Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said, "Glad to see the President act swiftly on this new intrusion to our airspace. I'm looking forwar🅠d to more details becoming public as the recovery and investigation continue."
Meanwhile, the US Northern Command continued its operation to recover the remains of the Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that was down off the coast of So🌼uth Carolina.
"Recovery teams have m𓄧apped the debris field and are in the process of searching for and identifying debris on the ocean floor. Debris that's been recovered so far is being loaded onto vessels, taken ashore, catalogued and then moved onwards to labs for subsequent analysis," Ryder said.
He noted that a significant amount of debris 🍨has been located so far that will prove helpful in understanding the balloon and its surveillance capabilities.
"Due to less than favourable sea right now, teams will continue to conduct underwater surveys and recovery as conditions permit. The department wants to thank our interagency partners from the US Coast Guard, th🎃e FBI and state and local authorities for their continuing assistance and partnership," the Pentagon press secretary added.
(With PTI Inputs)
