U.S. shoots down “high-altitude object” over Alaska at the direction of President Biden, White House says

The Pentagon shot down a “high-altitude object” over Alaskan airspace on Friday on orders from President Biden, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed during Friday’s White House briefing. The incident comes several days after the Pentagon announced a Chinese spy balloon which traversed much of the continental United States

When asked about the possibility of another object hovering over US airspace, Kirby said he could “confirm that the Department of Defense has been tracking a high altitude object over Alaska for the past 24 hours.” The Pentagon is still evaluating this latest object, and it’s not clear who owns it or what its purpose was. The presence of surveillance equipment has yet to be confirmed, US officials said.

Kirby said this latest object is the size of a “small car” and over a “very sparsely populated” area, making it easier to take down than the Chinese spy balloon, which is larger than the Statue of Liberty. Kirby said the president’s primary concern is the threat this newest object poses to civilian flights. This latest object was shot down off the coast of Alaska.

“The object was flying at 40,000 feet and presented a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Kirby said. “Out of great caution and on the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to shoot down the object and they did, and it entered our territorial waters. These waters are currently frozen but within territorial airspace and over territorial waters. Warplanes assigned to US Northern Command shot down the object within the last hour.”

Asked about the surgery, Mr Biden told reporters on Friday, “It was a success.”

The FAA closed some airspace in northern Alaska in support of the Department of Defense operation.

Kirby said the US will attempt to recover the object, which appeared unmanned or had maneuvering capabilities.

At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Department spokesman Gen. Patrick Ryder said the object was spotted on radar on Thursday, February 9, and “further examined and identified” by warplanes.

“US Northern Command is beginning salvage operations now,” Ryder said. A US official said Northern Command now has assets traveling to the area to recover the debris, including HC130, HH60 and CH47 aircraft.

Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska said he was briefed on the object by the Pentagon on Friday morning.

“Alaska is our nation’s defensive front. The last few weeks have made this even clearer,” he said said in a series of tweets.

The Chinese spy balloon, which transited the United States before being shot down off South Carolina on Saturday, is part of a “larger Chinese surveillance balloon program” that has been running for several years and across multiple continents, the Pentagon says.

The Biden administration has been heavily criticized for the decision to allow the Chinese surveillance balloon to fly across the US for almost a week before it was shot down over the Atlantic. Administration officials said the decision was made because of the risk to civilians at the scene. But some Republican lawmakers wanted it mined when it was afloat off the Alaskan coast, as was the case with this smaller object. Lawmakers were briefed on the large surveillance balloon that was launched.

Previous balloons known to the US have flown over parts of Hawaii, Texas and Florida — three during the Trump administration and one early in the Biden administration.