On Friday afternoon, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder made an important announcement at a press briefing. This comes shortly after it was revealed that the US military had shot down an unidentified object that was spotted over Alaska on Thursday night. When asked about the possibility of a second Chinese balloon, Ryder said the US had not yet contacted China about the latest object either.
The White House also stated that they have not yet been able to determine whose jurisdiction the object falls under. Ryder also reiterated that the aircraft was deemed unsafe for civilian aviation. The object was shot down by an F-22 aircraft with a Sidewinder missile. The Pentagon cannot say whether the object shot down over Alaska was an airship. But it is certain that there were no people on board.
According to Ryder, the CH-47 helicopters of the US Army set out to collect the debris of the crashed “object” in the frozen waters near the US-Canadian border in northeastern Alaska.
So it looks like the world may soon find out what this object really was. However, due to the weather conditions in Alaska, the rescue may take time. It is also unclear whether a rescue team will be able to access the downed object. It is also questionable whether the object was destroyed over water or land.
Both the Pentagon and the White House are tight-lipped on the matter
A military spokesman said Friday that the U.S. military shot down an unidentified object that was first spotted over Alaska on Thursday night at the direction of President Biden. It has not yet been confirmed whether the unidentified object was a balloon. “De traveled at an altitude that posed a potential danger to civilian aircraft.” – writes The New York Times, which reported on it for the first time on Friday afternoon.
The president issued the order to shoot “as a precaution”. This was the statement of an unnamed US official who made the statement after the dramatic shooting down of a Chinese “spy” balloon off the US east coast last Saturday.
He is tight-lipped to the Times from announcement no information has been revealed that would indicate the nature of the flying object or whether it might be a weather or spy balloon. China continues to insist that the balloon shot down last weekend was purely for weather research purposes and that the balloon had gone off course.
Regarding the object that was just shot, it was also published that:
“It is unclear whether the object is from a hostile power. Or it is an asset of a commercial or research company that has gone astray.”said the official.
The briefing said the Pentagon tracked the object before determining it posed a “real threat” to civilian aviation safety because it was traveling at flight altitude.