Just days after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the Carolina coast, the military took down another airborne object near Alaska at around 1:45 p.m. Friday.
Officials are not calling the latest object a balloon. However, they also won’t say it isn’t a balloon.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said during a Friday press briefing that President Joe Biden directed fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command to take down the object. It was located in U.S. sovereign airspace over U.S. territorial water.
“The object was about the size of a small car, so not similar in size or shape to the high-altitude surveillance balloon that was taken down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4,” said Ryder.
When asked if he could definitively say the object was not a balloon, Ryder said “at this point considering the fact that we’re still assessing the object, I don’t want to get into characterizing it, so just leave it at that.”
He added that he had not yet seen images of the object and was relaying “the verbal characteristics as it was described to me,” and that it “wasn’t an aircraft per se.”
In response to a journalist questions about whether the object showed “signs of maneuverability or propulsion,” Ryder said Friday that there was “no indication at this time that it had – was maneuverable,” though more research on the object debris is forthcoming.
As of Friday afternoon, the Department of Defense did not share a description of the object’s capabilities, purpose or origin.
According to Ryder, the object was first detected Thursday by North American Aerospace Defense Command. It was determined to be flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and it “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” he said.
An F-22 flying out of Joint Base Elmendorf in Alaska employed an AIM-9X to take down the object Friday.
“In this particular case, given the fact that it was operating at – at an altitude that posed a reasonable threat to civilian air traffic, the determination was made and the President gave the order to take it down,” said Ryder.
After the object was taken down, the U.S. Northern Command began recovery operations. The U.S. Northern Command’s Alaska Command coordinated the operation with assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“In terms of assets that are currently involved, in terms of recovery, we have HC-130, HH-60, and CH-47 aircraft participating in that recovery effort,” said Ryder. He said more information from the recovery effort is expected in the coming days.
At the same time, U.S. Northern Command continues recovery operations on the other side of the country after the takedown of the high-altitude surveillance balloon last week.
“Recovery teams have mapped the debris field and are in the process of searching for and identifying debris on the ocean floor,” said Ryder. “Debris that’s been recovered so far is being loaded onto vessels, taken ashore, catalogued, and then moved onwards to labs for subsequent analysis.”
While the U.S. identified the balloon as a Chinese surveillance device, the People’s Republic of China has denied it. The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution “condemning China over its use of a spy balloon violating U.S. sovereignty,” Thursday, according to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The Chinese side has repeatedly shared information and stated its position on the unintended entry of the unmanned Chinese civilian airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the People’s Republic of China Friday. “The U.S. Congress’s resolution is purely about scoring political points and dramatizing the whole thing. China deplores it and firmly opposes it.”
When a reporter asked Ryder if it is “plausible or maybe even likely that it was not necessarily intentional when that balloon turned and blew eastward,” the press secretary said no.
“What I would tell you is based on the information that we have, it was being maneuvered and purposefully driven along its track,” Ryder explained. “Again, recognizing that winds do play a role because of the maneuverability of the balloon, it’s our assessment that this was a purposeful mission.”
He also said that the U.S. has already “located a significant amount of debris so far that will prove helpful to our further understanding of this balloon and its surveillance capabilities.”
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