The U.S. military on Friday took down an object flying over Alaskan airspace days after shooting down a Chinese spy balloon along the South Carolina coast, the White House confirmed.
John Kirby, a national security spokesperson for the White House, said the Defense Department was tracking a “high-altitude object” over Alaska at 40,000 feet that posed “a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.
The object was shot down within the last hour at President Biden’s direction, Kirby said, and landed in U.S. waters.
The government is still collecting information about the object, Kirby said. It is not yet known whether it was operated by another country, or if it was privately or commercially owned. Kirby also would not say if the object was a balloon or another device.
“We’re calling this an object because that’s the best description we have right now,” he told reporters.
“We don’t understand the full purpose. We don’t have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object,” he continued, adding that officials expect to be able to recover the debris.
The object was shot down by military aircraft that are part of U.S. Northern Command.
The decision to take down the object over Alaska comes six days after Biden directed the military to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon days after it was first discovered floating over the continental United States.
In that case, officials said they wanted to wait until the Chinese spy balloon was over water so that it did not pose a threat to people or property when it crashed down.
The object shot down Friday was much smaller than the Chinese balloon, Kirby said, comparing ito to a small car, while the Chinese balloon was the size of three buses.
Biden drew criticism from Republicans in particular for waiting to shoot down the Chinese balloon last week, with critics claiming it allowed Beijing to collect potentially valuable information in the meantime.
The president in an interview on Thursday said he did not view the incursion of the Chinese balloon as a “major breach,” and he downplayed the potential effects on U.S.-China relations.
