US shot down unknown flying object over Alaska
The US government’s National Security Council communications director, John Kirby, confirmed the shooting down on Friday
Credit: AFP/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
A week after shooting down a suspected spy balloon, the US military shot down another object in its airspace. The White House said the object posed a threat to air traffic. At first there was no information about the origin.
WA few days after shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, the US military shot down another “flying object” over American territory on Friday. The White House and the Department of Defense announced in Washington that the aircraft was about twelve kilometers above the state of Alaska and posed a threat to the safety of civilian air traffic. Therefore, the military shot it down by order of President Joe Biden. There is still no information on the origin and destination of the flying object.
Last Saturday, the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the state of South Carolina over the Atlantic. The US government accuses China of using it to spy on military facilities. Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civilian research balloon that had gone off course – the Chinese government saw the launch as an “overreaction”. The incident caused additional tension in the already strained relationship between the two countries.
It was initially unclear whether there could be a connection between the two incidents. There are still many unanswered questions about the flying object that has now appeared. “We don’t know who owns this object,” National Security Council communications director John Kirby said in Washington. “We don’t know what kind of object it was.” The US government hopes to get answers to these questions by salvaging the rubble. Parts of the object probably fell on frozen water after it was shot down. “We hope that the salvage will be successful and then we can learn a bit more about it.”
The Washington Post wrote that the salvage would be difficult because boats could not reach the site of the crash. The New York Times reported that several US officials believed that the new object was also a balloon. However, a representative of the Ministry of Defense emphasized that the object broke into pieces when it hit the frozen sea. This actually contradicts the balloon theory.
The flying object was first sighted on Thursday evening, Kirby said. Biden was informed immediately and gave the firing order on Friday morning. According to preliminary findings, the flying object is significantly smaller than the downed Chinese balloon. It’s about the size of a small car, Kirby said. China’s balloon, on the other hand, was more the size of two or three buses. He emphasized: “We will continue to keep a close eye on our airspace.”
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said after the object was first sighted on Thursday, Air Defense Command sent Norad planes into the air to take a closer look. After that, the decision to launch was made. An F-22 fighter jet shot down the aircraft at 1:45 p.m. EST on Friday. The main reason for the decision was the threat to civil air traffic, which also operates at altitudes of up to 12 to 13 kilometers.
The Chinese balloon had flown significantly higher – at an altitude of more than 18 kilometers and thus far above the range of civilian air traffic. The US military let the Chinese balloon hover over American territory for several days and only destroyed it when it was over the sea because of the danger of falling debris.
The appearance of the large Chinese observation balloon in American airspace had triggered major diplomatic upheavals in the past few days. In view of the dispute over the balloon, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a trip to Beijing at short notice. The US government also made numerous findings about the balloon public, increasing the pressure on Beijing.
The State Department in Washington accused China of operating an extensive international surveillance program: China had targeted more than 40 countries on five continents with a fleet of spy balloons. The Chinese government has denied the allegations and accused the US government of waging an “information war” over the allegations of espionage.