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John Kirby, communications director of the National Security Council: "As a precautionary measure" recommended the shooting
Photo Credit: IMAGO/Chris Kleponis/ IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
A day after the US Air Force shot down another "flying object" over American territory, some new details have emerged.
However, there are still many unanswered questions about the incident.
It is also unclear where the flying object came from and what purpose it served.
It had no surveillance equipment, the broadcaster CNN reported in the evening (local time), citing a US government representative.
According to CNN, military circles said they were certain that it was not a US government object.
A Pentagon spokesman said an F-22 fighter shot down the aircraft at 1:45 p.m. EST at an altitude of about 12 kilometers using an AIM-9X missile.
The main reason for this was the threat to civil air traffic, which operates at a similar altitude.
"It was the size of a small car"
After the pilot of the fighter jet verified that the craft was unmanned, President Joe Biden recommended shooting it down "as a precautionary measure," said National Security Council communications director John Kirby.
"I want to reiterate that we don't know who owns this object," Kirby said.
It was much smaller than the balloon.
"It was the size of a small car." The balloon, on the other hand, was more the size of two or three school buses.
The debris field to be expected is therefore much smaller, according to Kirby.
The US government is now hoping for more information by recovering the rubble.
After being shot down off the coast of Alaska near the Canadian border, parts of the object probably fell onto frozen water.
The salvage is likely to be difficult because boats could not reach the site of the crash, wrote the Washington Post.
It was initially unclear whether there was a connection to the Chinese balloon that was allegedly used for espionage purposes and that was taken from the sky a week ago.
The US government has responded to the alleged espionage attempt with new sanctions.
The Commerce Department put five Chinese companies and a research institute on its list of organizations to which American parts and technology can no longer be sold without a special license.
All six facilities involved supported China's military spy airship and balloon program.
The New York Times wrote that several US officials believed that the new object was also a balloon.
However, a representative of the Ministry of Defense emphasized that the object broke into pieces when it hit the frozen sea.
This contradicts the balloon theory.
The flying object was first sighted on Thursday evening (local time), Kirby said.
Biden was informed immediately and gave the firing order on Friday morning.
Canada supported the decision and was in the know, said neighboring country Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
pbe/dpa