Shortly after the affair about the spy balloons from China, another incident occurs over Alaska. The US military shoots down a flying object at high altitude.
WASHINGTON, DC – The US military shot down an unidentified object over the state of Alaska on Friday on orders from US President Joe Biden, US officials said. National Security Council communications director John Kirby confirmed the downing at a news conference in Washington.
After China’s spy balloon: Biden’s orders shot down an unidentified object over Alaska ‘out of sheer caution’
Biden ordered the unidentified object shot down “out of pure caution,” Kirby said. He said it has not been confirmed whether the object was a balloon, but that it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential hazard to civilian aircraft. The communications director emphasized that he could not yet say anything about the origin of the flying object. Apparently, the object was traveling at an altitude of around 12,000 meters and was about the size of a car.
The object had flown over land in Alaska before the fighter jets crashed it over the Arctic Ocean near the northeastern Alaska-Canada border, like the New York Times reported. The pilots had previously confirmed that the object was unmanned, it said.
After the balloon affair with China: Unknown flying object poses a threat to aviation
Last Saturday, the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over American territory off the coast of the state of South Carolina across the Atlantic. The US government accuses China of wanting to spy on military installations. Beijing, on the other hand, spoke of a civilian research balloon that had gone off course and of an “overreaction” by the USA.
Regarding Friday’s recent incident, Michael P. Mulroy, a former Pentagon official, told the US newspaper New York Times: “If it was another Chinese spy balloon, that suggests China is either incompetent […] or possibly deliberately provoking the US,” Mulroy said, adding, “It is also important that the US and China maintain direct communication at times like these. Especially between the armed forces.”
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