The White House confirmed on Friday that a second “high-altitude object” was shot down in US airspace.
National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby made the announcement at a White House press conference, saying the Defense Department tracked the object about 40,000 feet above Alaska in the past 24 hours. This “represents a substantial threat to the safety of civil aviation,” Kirby said.
“Out of an abundance of caution and with the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to bring down the object,” Kirby said, adding that fighter jets were doing the job that evening and the object fell on the ice.
The Pentagon is expected to provide more details later on Friday afternoon. Kirby said the U.S. doesn’t know who owned the object or what its purpose was, but officials hope to recover the debris and investigate its contents.
The object was “much, much smaller” than the Chinese spy balloon that US authorities brought down last Saturday off the coast of South Carolina, Kirby said, comparing it to “the size of a small car.” Chinese spy balloons are about 200 feet high.
News of the object came a day after President Joe Biden’s administration said the Chinese military was likely behind a fleet of spy balloons targeting more than 40 countries. The high-tech balloons can collect communications signals and other sensitive information, the State Department said.
Chinese authorities have denied that the unmanned balloon shot down last week was a spy tool and said it was only a civilian meteorological airship that went down. He refused to let US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speak to his Chinese counterpart about the incident.