The US military shot down a “high-altitude object” off the coast of Alaska on Friday, White House spokesman John Kirby said, a week after it downed a Chinese spy balloon that was floating in American airspace.
The object, which Kirby said was the “roughly the size of a small car”, passed over land in Alaska before being shot down by a US fighter jet on Friday morning local time, falling into frozen waters near the north-east border with Canada.
“The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Kirby said. “Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Joe Biden ordered the military to down the object, and they did.”