The White House said a "high-altitude object" was shot down over Alaska, just a week after the US military downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon..Spokesman John Kirby said the "high-altitude object" was "the size of a small car" and was over a sparsely populated area when it was shot down Friday.According to Kirby, the object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet above the state and "posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. Under the recommendation of the Pentagon, US President Joe Biden ordered the military to shoot the object down.According to Defense Department Spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the object was shot down by an F-22 firing sidewinder missiles at around 1:45 pm est. The object landed off the coast of Alaska, and several aircraft are now attempting to recover the object's debris.This comes just a week after the US Air Force shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. The balloon made its way over Japan and South Korea before entering Alaska and floating over North America.READ MORE: BALLOONING TENSIONS: China threatens retaliation after US shoots down spy balloonWhile Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said China was using the balloon to gather intelligence on strategic military sites, Beijing maintained the balloon was being used for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes, and had accidentally strayed into US airspace.Around that time, the Colombian air force said they also monitored a similar balloon flying over their country. The country tracked the balloon until it exited its airspace.More to come...
