The U.S. military shot down an unidentified object over Alaska on Friday, according to U.S. officials.
Officials have not confirmed if the object was another Chinese spy balloon, The New York Times reported.
The object was reportedly flying around 40,000 feet, making it a threat to civilian aircraft.
#BREAKING: John Kirby confirms the Biden administration ordered fighter aircraft shot down "a high altitude object over Alaska air space…within the last hour" that we had been tracking for "the last 24 hours," adding "the object…posed a reasonable threat" pic.twitter.com/8Aa70xZ3zj
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 10, 2023
The news comes 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.
This latest breach of U.S. airspace happened late Thursday night over Alaska, the report said.
The incursion on Thursday night was allegedly short which is one reason that officials said that they had not confirmed if the object was even from a foreign nation.
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