US authorities have not yet been able to determine the type and purpose of the object.
The United States shot down the second unsanctioned flying object in the sky over Alaska in a week.
ABC News writes about this.
On Thursday, February 9, the command of the aerospace defense noticed a mysterious object on the radar flying at an altitude of about 13 kilometers in a northeasterly direction.
It was targeted by two US Air Force F-22 fighter jets, the military said the potential threat was shot down by an AIM-9X air-to-air missile at around 5:45 a.m. Kyiv time on February 10.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby soon gave a press conference and stated that the downed object was “the size of a small car”, much smaller than the Chinese balloon discovered about six days ago. However, the official found it difficult to name what exactly penetrated the territory of Alaska.
“We call it an object because that's the best description we have right now. We don't know who it belongs to, whether it's a government, corporate or private entity. We just don't know or understand its purpose,” John said. Kirby.
As a representative of the National Security Council explained, the object was quickly shot down because it posed a threat to the safety of civilian aircraft. The fact is that the sky over Alaska is actively used for flights, since ground movement is complicated by mountains. The fighter pilots made sure that there were no people inside. The wreckage landed in the Beaufort Sea offshore, so officials expect to quickly recover it.
After the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration restricted flights over an area of approximately 26 square kilometers off Cape Bullen, Alaska. Within its borders is an abandoned US Air Force radar station in the Beaufort Sea, about 210 kilometers from the Canadian border, above the Arctic Circle. In the area there is a settlement of indigenous peoples and several mining towns.
The event occurred near the border, so the Americans informed the Canadian authorities about the incident. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he supported the US decision to shoot down an unregistered object.
Recall that on February 4, the United States shot down a Chinese balloon off the coast of Carolina. It flew over strategic military installations and found itself over the Atlantic Ocean, where its fighters were destroyed on the orders of President Joe Biden. It is curious that the planes accompanied the balloon in the sky over the USA for two days.
