The United States announced the downing of a new high-altitude object that flew over the state of Alaska this Friday (10). According to the US government, it was detected on Thursday night (9), was flying at an altitude of 12 km and, therefore, posed risks to civil aviation.
White House spokesman John Kirby said it was still unclear whether the object was from another country or civilian in origin, and said the instrument was the size of a small car and smaller than the size of a car. Chinese balloon shot down earlier this week. He avoided classifying the object as a balloon.
The government will soon collect the wreckage, which fell into US territorial waters, to analyze it. According to the pilots of the fighter that participated in the action, the instrument was not manned.
Last week, Washington announced the detection of a Chinese balloon over the city of Billings, in the state of Montana, where a military base with intercontinental ballistic missile silos is located. The United States claimed that the balloon was carrying out espionage. Beijing said the object collected mainly meteorological information.
Despite this, the balloon was not shot down immediately, on the grounds of the White House that the debris could reach civilian areas. Thus, he was only shot down when he stopped flying over the country and was on the coast of the state of South Carolina, to the east.
The episode heightened the already heightened tensions between China and the United States, and resulted in the postponement of the visit of the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to Beijing.
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