US shoots down high-altitude object over Alaska

A "high-altitude object" was shot down over Alaska yesterday.

White House Spokesman John Kirby says the unmanned object was "the size of a small car" and was over a sparsely populated area at the time.

Kirby says President Joe Biden took the decision to shoot down the object, which was of unknown origin.

It comes after the US shot down a Chinese balloon over its territorial waters last Saturday.

Speaking at the White House, Kirby explained that the object over Alaska was travelling at 40,000ft (12,000m) and posed a "reasonable threat" to civilian aircraft.

He says the object had fallen into US waters that are currently frozen, adding that its debris field was "much, much smaller" than the balloon shot down last week off the coast of South Carolina.

Kirby says they do not know who owns it, whether it's state owned or corporate owned or privately owned.

He adds a fighter jet had approached the object and assessed there was nobody onboard, and this information was available to Biden when he made his decision.

[Source: BBC News]