Alert in the US for the object of unknown origin that shot down F-22

Alarm has sounded in the US after the announcement that, on the order of President Joe Biden, an F-22 fighter shot down a “flying object” of unknown origin yesterday over Alaska.

According to a US official, the object in question “did not appear to have tracking equipment”, making it smaller and likely less sophisticated than the Chinese balloon shot down last weekend.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that the “object”, which was about the size of a “small car”, posed a “threat to aviation security”.

“We don’t know who it belonged to (…) and we haven’t understood its use at the moment” he added.

For his part, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters that the “object” was flying at an altitude of 12 km and that it was shot down by an AIM-9X missile launched by the F-22.

American authorities clarified that a reconnaissance flight was conducted beforehand in order to ensure that the object was not manned.

However, a US official told CNN that the object “was targeted about 10 miles off the north coast of Alaska”.

After first spotting the object on Thursday, the military sent F-35 fighter jets to search, the official said.

The object was finally shot down Friday afternoon by an F-22 fighter jet with an AIM-9X, the same type of aircraft and missile used to shoot down the Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

Defense Department officials and NORAD, the joint US-Canada space agency, wanted to shoot down the object during the day because the short hours of sunlight in the far north would make the slow-moving object easier to spot.

Military leaders expressed confidence that the object did not belong to the US military or government.

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