Unidentified object shot down over Alaska by US military, White House says

A US fighter jet has shot down an unidentified high-altitude object over Alaska that was the size of a small car but the nature, purpose or origin of the object remains unclear.

US officials said the targeted aircraft brought down on Friday was considerably smaller than the Chinese balloon downed last Saturday over the Atlantic, and carefully avoided characterising it as a balloon, drone or plane, giving nothing away about the description of the object other than its rough size, its altitude and its direction of travel.

John Kirby, the spokesman for the national security council, said the pilot of the F-22 Raptor fighter which fired the missile that brought down the object judged it to be unmanned.

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