The White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said Friday afternoon that the military shot down an object flying 40,000 feet above Alaskan airspace earlier in the day.
It is unknown who the object belongs to but was not manned, Kirby said. President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown, Kirby said.
The object was flying near the coast of northeast Alaska, not far from the Canadian border, Kirby said.
"We don't understand the full purpose," Kirby said. "We do expect to be able to recover [it]."
Navy recovers Chinese spy balloon in Atlantic after it was shot down
The Biden administration decided to bring down the Chinese balloon once it made its way to the ocean after it hovered over several states.
This object was much smaller than the spy balloon U.S. military shot down off the South Carolina coast last week. He said the object shot down over Alaska was about the size of a small car, and had a much smaller debris field.
U.S. officials said the balloon shot down last week off the Carolina coast was believed to be a Chinese spy balloon.
Kirby said the object shot down on Friday posed a reasonable threat to civilian flight safety, given its altitude. The Pentagon said the balloon shot down last week flew at a much higher altitude, and did not pose a threat to flights.
