The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command have released a statement on Saturday night about the unidentified object that was shot down off the coast of Alaska late this week.
The statement comes after the U.S. military shot down an object the size of a small car flying at 40,000 feet with a “cylindrical shape” over U.S. territorial water.
“Recovery operations continue today near Deadhorse, Alaska. U.S. Northern Command’s Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, in close coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement, are conducting search and recovery activities,” the statement said. “Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety.”
U.S. officials said that the recovery operations were happening on sea ice and there was not any additional information at this time about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin.
The statement said that U.S. Northern Command was continuing to conduct recovery operations off the coast of South Carolina after the U.S. military used an F-22 Raptor last week to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean using a single air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile that was fired at an altitude of approximately 58,000 feet. The decision to shoot down the spy balloon came after President Joe Biden allowed it to fly thousands of miles over the continental U.S. last week.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to assist recovery on site and take custody of debris arriving at on-shore locations,” the statement concluded. “Sea states Feb. 10 permitted dive and underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) activities and the retrieval of additional debris from the sea floor. The public may see U.S. Navy vessels moving to and from the site as they conduct offload and resupply activities. Operations will continue as weather permits.”