Less than a week after the US airforce downed a Chinese hot air balloon, a US F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) above Alaska on February 10.
A Sidewinder missile shot down an object the size of a small car, according to General Patrick Ryder, a spokesperson for the Pentagon.
White House spokesperson John Kirby stated, “We don’t know who owns this thing.” It is still unknown how its voyage began, the spokesman claims. From the White House, President Joe Biden issued an order for the object to be shot down.
The Pentagon and White House refused to provide further details on the UFO, simply stating that it was significantly smaller than a Chinese hot air balloon. According to the Pentagon, it flew at a height of roughly 12,190 meters, endangering civilian aircraft.
In the far northeast of Alaska, close to the Canadian border, this weird flying object was shot down while it was travelling northeast. According to the Pentagon, ground-based radar was initially used to discover it on February 9. Later, the F-35 was called in to do additional research.
US pilots flying alongside it have determined that there are no individuals on the UFO, according to spokesman Ryder. It was unclear from Ryder and other officials if the object was only a weather balloon or another kind of balloon.
In order to support Department of Defense operations, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claimed it had closed some airspace over northern Alaska.
President Joe Biden received kudos from certain politicians after the UFO was shot down. It’s encouraging to see the president take swift action in response to this new breach of US airspace, said Sen. Mark Warner, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Prior to that, on February 9, at a contentious Senate hearing, lawmakers lambasted the Pentagon for defusing a Chinese hot air balloon later than necessary, highlighting ongoing concerns in Congress about the United States’ inadequate ability to defend airspace.
US authorities have been looking for the body of China’s shot-down high-altitude surveillance balloon in the ocean.
Reporters were informed by Mr. Ryder that “a large amount” of the debris had been identified and retrieved. The implication is that US authorities would soon know more about any Chinese snooping capabilities on the balloon.
