The United States shot down an unidentified object on Friday in the airspace of the state of Alaska, the country’s authorities confirmed at a press conference.
The order to hit the object “the size of a small car”, which was flying at “40,000 feet altitude” and was unmanned, was given directly by Joe Biden after the recommendation of Pentagon officials.
“We don’t know who it belongs to, whether it belongs to a State, to a company or privately, and we don’t know its purpose,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, who revealed that it was possible to “bring some fighters” of the same before the decision is made.
The object – which “is not yet classified as a balloon” – posed “a threat to the safety of air traffic”, but it is different and “much smaller” than the Chinese “spy balloon” identified last week by the Americans, which it had “the ability to accelerate and brake”.
The new object fell on “waters believed to be frozen” and near the Canadian border, so “efforts will be made to recover it.”
Last week, US forces shot down what they called a Chinese “spy balloon” over the United States.
China admitted that the balloon belongs to it, but said it had been blown off course by strong winds and was used for meteorological purposes, not espionage.
The United States says it does not believe this argument because the balloon “was in transit to pass over sensitive military sites.”
Source: TSF
