A american fighter plane ha shot down this friday about Alaska a unidentificated object that was flying at a high altitude the size of a small car, by order of President Joe Biden, reported the White House. The demolition occurred close to Arctic Oceanin the north, near the border with Alaska.
White House spokesman John Kirby, told reporters that many details about the object were unknown, but that the United States hoped to recover it after it fell into US territorial waters. According to Kirby, the downed object “represented a potential threat to air traffic civilian”. The decision to shoot down was made after ascertaining that it was unmanned. The object was flying at an altitude of about 12,000 meters.
According to preliminary data released by the White House, the object was significantly smaller than the spy balloon shot down last week, about the size of a small car. The United States does not know if the object was state or private property, but the Pentagon is hopeful that it can recover the object because it fell into frozen water. There is no indication that the object has self-propelled or maneuvering capabilities like the balloon shot down last week, Kirby said.
On February 4, the US shot down a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon that had traversed US airspace off the coast of South Carolina. US officials have been recovering debris from the 200-foot-tall (60-meter-tall) balloon and its landing gear of electronic devices.
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Kirby has been especially careful with reporters not to classify the new object as a balloon. He has claimed that the discovery of the new object and its trail first came to US attention on 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 shot down first thing in the morning after receiving the tip.
A fighter plane 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, about 12,000 meters, and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights,” the official said. There were no indications of a military threat to people on the ground and it was not immediately clear if he was carrying any kind of surveillance equipment.