Days after downing China's spy balloon, US shoots down object flying over Alaska

Washington, Feb 11: Days after downing China's spy balloon, the United States on Friday shot down an object flying over Alaska at a height of about 40,000 feet off the northern coast of Alaska.

"Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object. They did, and it came inside our territorial waters. Those waters right now are frozen but inside territorial airspace and over territorial waters," National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that the origin of the object is known yet and it was first detected inside American airspace on Thursday. The object, which was roughly the size of a small car, was shot down as it posed a "reasonable threat to civilian air traffic", he said.

"We do not know who owns it, whether state owned or corporate owned," he said. "We don't understand the full purpose."

"At the direction of the President of the United States, fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully took down a high-altitude airborne object off the northern coast of Alaska at 1:45 pm Eastern Standard Time today within US sovereign airspace over US territorial water," he added.

Ryder claimed that the US Northern Command has started the recovery operation amid in a mix of ice and snow. "The object was travelling northeasterly across Alaska. A two-ship flight of F-35s conducted identification of the object," he said. "An F-22 out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson -- assigned to U.S. Northern Command -- shot down the object with an AIM-9X missile near Deadhorse, Alaska," Ryder added.

He stated that the decision to shoot down the object was taken as it posed a threat to civilian air traffic. "In terms of the spy balloon (downed a week ago), we have learnt a lot about the Chinese surveillance high-altitude balloon programme," he said. "We gathered a lot of information over the last couple of years. Based on that, we were able to detect it at a very early stage as it approached US air space and we had a good understanding of what it was. We were able to monitor that closely while it went over the continental United States, learn a lot about it and take it down at the appropriate time," the Pentagon Press Secretary said.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy stated that the the unidentified object raises serious national security concerns. "This latest intrusion into our airspace raises serious questions about the White House's decision to not shoot down a Chinese spy balloon last week when it was above the Aleutian Chain and prevent it from flying over important military sites in the Lower-48," he said.

On the other hand, a week ago the US shot down China's surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean as it crossed the continental America after hovering over its skies from Montana to South Carolina. However, according to Beijing, the balloon was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose while the US called it as a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle.

This added fuel to already tense relationship between the US and China. However, the remains of the balloon has not been recovered yet.

"Recovery teams have mapped the debris field and are in the process of searching for and identifying debris on the ocean floor. Debris that's been recovered so far is being loaded onto vessels, taken ashore, catalogued and then moved onwards to labs for subsequent analysis," Ryder said.

He noted that a significant amount of debris has been located so far that will prove helpful in understanding the balloon and its surveillance capabilities. "Due to less than favourable sea right now, teams will continue to conduct underwater surveys and recovery as conditions permit. The department wants to thank our interagency partners from the US Coast Guard, the FBI and state and local authorities for their continuing assistance and partnership," the Pentagon press secretary added.

The latest balloon incident has led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his rare trip to Beijing. It also added fuel to the growing tensions between the two global superpowers.

With inputs from PTI