Days After Chinese 'Spy Balloon', US Shoots Down Another High-Flying Object

The United States fighter jet shot down an unidentified flying object on Friday on the orders of President Joe Biden.

United States President Joe Biden

Days after it downed a suspected Chinese 'spy' balloon flying over several military sites, the United States on Friday shot down an unidentified flying object. A US fighter jet shot down the small car-sized objects, flying with payloads at a height of about 40,000 feet, PTI reported citing officials. 

It added that the object was shot down off the northern coast of Alaska on the direction of President Joe Biden. 

According to Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the object was first detected inside the US airspace on Thursday. It posed a "reasonable threat to civilian air traffic", he said, quoted PTI. 

As per the report, the origin of the object is not known so far. 

Ryder said, "US Northern Command is beginning recovery operations now," adding the F-22 fighter jet deployed an AIM-9X missile to take down the object. 

The development comes almost a week after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. The suspected ‘spy’ balloon had hovered over continental America for several days after entering the US airspace on January 30 in Montana. 

China has acknowledged that the balloon was theirs but denied that it was for surveillance purposes saying the balloon was for weather monitoring and that it had drifted off course. 

About the recent unidentified object over Alaska, Ryder told reporters, "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 territorial 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 4," he said. 

The news of the shooting down of the unidentified object was first announced by the White House. 

White House announced the shooting down of the object. It said, "Out 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 waters," National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at the White House, reported PTI. 

He added that the recovery 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 identification of the object," he said. 

"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, Alaska," Ryder said. 

The object was shot down as it posed a threat to civilian air traffic, Ryder further added, as per the PTI report. 

Reaction Of US Leaders On Downing Of Object 

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said that the unidentified object raises serious national security concerns, reported PTI. 

He said, "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 Chain and prevent it from flying over important military sites in the Lower-48." 

Chairman of the Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Mark Warner reacted to the development and said, "Glad to see the President act swiftly on this new intrusion to our airspace. I'm looking forward to more details becoming public as the recovery and investigation continue." 

Chinese ‘Spy’ Balloon 

The Pentagon Press Secretary said, "In terms of the spy balloon (downed a week ago), we have learnt a lot about the Chinese surveillance high-altitude balloon programme." 

"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 down at the appropriate time," the spokesperson added.