Washington: A US military fighter jet shot down an unidentified object flying off the coast of Alaska on Friday on orders from President Joe Biden, White House officials said. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the object was shot down because it was flying at an altitude of about 13,000 meters and was a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, not because of any knowledge that It was under surveillance.
Asked to object to Downing, Biden said Friday only that “it was a success.” Kirby described the object as roughly the size of a small car, much smaller than the massive suspected Chinese spy balloon that Air Force fighters shot down in the continental US on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina. It was dropped after crossing over sensitive military sites.
There were few answers about the item and the White House made a distinction between the two episodes. Officials could not say whether the unidentified object dropped on Friday contained any surveillance equipment, where it came from or what its purpose was.
The Pentagon on Friday declined to provide a more precise description of the object, saying only that US pilots who flew in to look at it determined it was not manned. Officials said the object was much smaller than previous balloons, did not appear to be movable and was traveling at a very low altitude.
Kirby said Biden, based on the Pentagon’s advice, believed it was of sufficient concern to shoot it out of the sky? Mainly because of the potential risk to civilian aircraft.
“We’re going to be cautious about our airspace,” Kirby said. “The President considers his obligations to protect our national security interests to be paramount.”
The President was informed about the presence of the object after an inspection by two fighter jets on Thursday evening.
Brig. Pentagon Press Secretary General Pat Ryder told reporters Friday that an F-22 fighter jet based at Joint Base Elmdorf-Richardson shot down the object using the same type of missile used to bring down the balloon about a week ago. was done for.
Ahead of the shoot-down, the Federal Aviation Administration restricted flights over a roughly 10-square-mile area within US airspace from Bullen Point in Alaska to a disused US Air Force base on the Beaufort Sea, about 100 miles from the Canadian border. Radar station site. ,
The object fell on the frozen water and officials hoped they could recover the wreckage faster than last week’s giant balloon. Ryder said the object was headed northeast when it was shot down. He said several US military helicopters have left to begin rescue operations.
The unidentified object was shot down in an area with harsh weather conditions and approximately six and a half hours of daylight at this time of year.
The development comes nearly a week after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it crossed sensitive military sites in North America. China insisted that the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened dire consequences.
Biden issued the order but wanted to drop the balloon even earlier. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was above water. Military officials determined that bringing it down to the ground from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to those on the ground.
The Pentagon has said that the balloon was part of a larger surveillance program that China has been conducting for “many years”.
China responded that it reserved the right to ‘take further action’ and criticized the US for a “clear overreaction and serious violation of international practice”.