KLess than a week after the downing of a Chinese spy balloon, the White House announced on Friday that the US military had shot down a “high-altitude flying object” over Alaska. It posed “a serious threat to civilian air travel,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, on Friday afternoon. The object flew at an altitude of around 12,000 meters; Passenger aircraft usually fly at an altitude of between 10,000 and 15,000 meters.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the flying object has been observed since Thursday evening with the help of combat aircraft, among other things. On Friday, President Joe Biden gave the order to shoot it down “out of caution” and on the recommendation of the Pentagon. This happened at 1:45 p.m. EST off the north coast of Alaska over the Arctic Ocean. The debris was being recovered. When asked by a journalist on Friday afternoon, Biden spoke of a “success”. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was briefed on Canada’s proximity, hailed the decision to shoot down the craft on Twitter.
According to the Pentagon, the flying object was the size of a small car and had no external resemblance to the Chinese spy balloon, which was the size of two to three buses. Security Council spokesman Kirby said it was not known where the object came from and “whether it was government, corporate or private property”. However, there are “no clear indications of a military threat” for the people on the spot. In addition, the object apparently did not move to the same extent as the recently launched balloon. In the evening, the broadcaster CNN, citing a government official, reported that the flying object did not appear to have had any surveillance technology on board.
Danger to civil aviation
The Chinese spy balloon was shot down a week after its discovery, citing a danger to people and possible damage to the ground. In this case, however, the decision was made to shoot down the aircraft soon because the flying object and its altitude posed a threat to civilian air traffic, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said on Friday. “Anytime we spot something, we’ll first observe and then make a decision accordingly.” An hour before the object was shot down, a no-fly zone was imposed in the Deadhorse zone in Alaska.
According to the Pentagon, the area where the debris fell is currently being delimited – probably largely over frozen water. Then you will proceed step by step and first bring the more easily accessible parts to the coast and then turn to the harder-to-recover debris parts. The Washington Post wrote that the salvage would be difficult because boats could not reach the site of the crash.
The New York Times wrote 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 American government announced on Thursday that the Chinese balloon shot down over the Atlantic last Saturday was able to intercept communications signals. The balloon’s equipment was “clearly used for surveillance by the secret service” and does not match the equipment on board weather balloons. The findings were based on high-resolution images from reconnaissance aircraft. The balloon was said to be part of a fleet of surveillance balloons deployed in 40 countries on five continents, according to the White House. Beijing had spoken of a civilian research balloon that had gone off course.
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