US: fighter jet shoots down unidentified ariel object in Alaska near Canadian border

A fighter jet of the Pentagon shot down an unidentified high-altitude aerial object the size of a small car spotted 40,000 feet off the northern coast of Alaska on the orders of US President Joe Biden on Friday, according to media reports.

The news comes as a high-altitude surveillance balloon, speculated to be Chinese, was brought down by the military less than a week ago.

The object was first spotted in the US airspace on Thursday, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder, who added that while the origin of the balloon is not known so far, it presented a “reasonable threat to civilian air traffic.”

The US used an F-22 fighter jet, which deployed an AIM-9X missile to take down the balloon, General Ryder added.

“At the direction of the President of the United States, fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully took down a high-altitude airborne object off the northern coast of Alaska at 1:45 pm Eastern Standard Time today (Friday) within US sovereign airspace over US territorial water…We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose or origin,” Ryder stated to reporters at the news conference.

“We’re going to remain vigilant about our airspace…The president takes his obligations to protect our national security interests as paramount,” claimed John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesman said about President Biden’s orders.