Pentagon Shoots Down Unidentified Object over Alaska; US shoots down another high-altitude ‘object’ that was the ‘size of a small car’ over Alaska, and related stories

Pentagon Shoots Down Unidentified Object over Alaska:

The Pentagon said that it shot down an unidentified object over Alaska on Friday after it flew at an altitude that would pose a risk to civilian aircraft.

“At the direction of the President of the United States, fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully took down a high altitude airborne object off the northern coast of Alaska at 1:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time today within U.S. sovereign airspace over U.S. territorial water,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said at a Pentagon press briefing.

“On February 9, North American Aerospace Defense Command detected an object on ground radar, further investigated and identified the object using fighter aircraft. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. U.S. Northern Command is beginning recovery operations now,” he said.

He added: “We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose, or origin. The object was about the size of a small car so not similar in size or shape to the high altitude surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.”

Ryder declined to say whether it was necessary that Biden be notified and that he — versus a commander — give the order to shoot the object down. —>READ MORE HERE

US shoots down another high-altitude ‘object’ that was the ‘size of a small car’ over Alaska:

The US shot down another high-altitude “object” over the waters off Alaska on Friday afternoon – six days after a fighter jet took out a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina – an operation President Biden deemed “a success.”

The latest object, which was detected within the past 24 hours, was downed on Biden’s orders at 1:45 p.m., Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

The US has not yet determined the object’s “capabilities, purpose or origin,” Ryder said. Officials hope to answer those questions after they recover and analyze it.

The object was first picked up on ground radar Thursday, prompting the military to scramble fighter jets to observe it from the air, Ryder said. Pilots determined the object was unmanned, and later used an F-22 to shoot it down after the president gave the go-ahead.

The object, officials said according to the New York Times, had traveled over land in Alaska and was heading toward the North Pole over frozen water at a speed of 20 to 40 miles per hour before it was struck by the Sidewinder air-to-air missile fired by the F-22 fighter jet.

At 40,000 feet, the object “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a White House briefing. Unlike the first device, the object intercepted Friday didn’t appear to have the same “maneuverable capability” and was moving “virtually at the whim of the wind.”

“It was much, much smaller than the spy balloon that we took down last Saturday,” he said. “The way it was described to me was roughly the size of a small car, as opposed to a payload that was like two or three buses sized … no significant payload, if you will.” —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

U.S. military shoots down ‘high altitude object’ near Alaska

‘High-altitude object’ shot down by Pentagon over Alaska, just days after Chinese spy balloon incident

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