This one wasn’t a spy balloon

U.S. jets shoot down an unknown ‘object’ off Alaska coast

U.S. forces shot down an object roughly the size of a car from the sky off Alaska’s northern coast, government officials said Friday.

White House spokesman John Kirby confirmed the Pentagon fired on the aircraft after getting the order from President Biden. It’s unclear who operated the flying object that defense officials detected last night and destroyed Friday afternoon.

Defense officials said fighter jets tried to study the object flying at 40,000 feet. It was felled by an F-22 armed with AIM9X missiles because it posed a “reasonable threat” to civilian aircraft, officials said.

The aircraft didn’t show any signs of a manned crew or “maneuverability,” said the officials.

U.S. forces shot-down a Chinese balloon Sunday after it crossed over U.S. airspace for several days at 60,000 feet. It’s debris is being studied by intelligence agents.

The balloon is said to have had espionage capabilities. The Pentagon said Friday a “significant amount of debris” has been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean as search efforts continue.

Some conservative lawmakers faulted the White House for waiting for the balloon, spotted over Montana last week, to reach the east coast.

Defense officials argued the balloon — which was the size of several buses — was closely monitored and shot down off the coast of the Carolinas so it wouldn’t harm people on the ground.

The remains of the considerably smaller aircraft downed off Alaska north of the Arctic Circle at 1:45 p.m. Friday will also be studied by intelligence officials.

The debris fell on frozen waters under U.S. airspace near Prudhoe Bay, an area that gets fewer than seven hours’ daylight in winter.

Friday temperatures there topped-out around minus 17 degrees.

Officials have not commented on the ship’s shape or how quickly it was moving near northeastern Alaska. An ABC News source described it as “cylindrical and silver-ish gray” and showed no sign of propulsion. The object’s spying capabilities are unclear.

President Biden told reporters Friday the military operation to bring it down was “a success.”

AP An AIM-9X Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missile, the type mounted on an F-22 fighter jet and used to shoot down a “cylindrical and silver-ish gray” object flying off the northern coast of Alaska on Friday.