Key Points
- An airborne object the size of a small car was shot down over Alaska on Friday.
- White House spokesman John Kirby said it's unclear who owns the object.
- A Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down last week after floating through US airspace.
A United States fighter jet has shot down over Alaska a high-altitude object that was the size of a small car, on the order of President Joe Biden, the White House says.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters many details were unknown about the object but the US expected to recover the object after it landed in the nation's territorial waters.
It was unclear where the object came from, Mr Kirby said.
"We don't know who owns this object," he said.
Mr Kirby said the object went down on the far northeastern part of Alaska near the Canadian border. He said the US pilot's assessment was that no human was onboard.
The US on 4 February shot down what it said was that transited the country.
Mr Kirby was careful not to classify the new object as a balloon.
He said the knowledge about the object and its track first came to US attention on Thursday night.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it closed some airspace in northern Alaska to support Department of Defense activities.
The White House said on Friday the US military shot down an object off northeast Alaska that was about 40,000 feet up in the air and could have posed a "reasonable threat" to civilian aircraft.
The FAA issued a notice that it had closed some airspace around Deadhorse, Alaska.
