According to Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, an unidentified object not characterized as a balloon by the officials, was taken down near the Canadian border by fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command.
The debris of the object is still being recovered on the Atlantic Ocean floor.
- The object was downed 10 miles off the frozen coast of Alaska on Friday afternoon.
- An F-22 fighter jet with an AIM-9X was used, the same aircraft and missile that downed the Chinese balloon.
- The object is reportedly "about the size of a small car," and there is no indication that the object is related to the Chinese balloon downed a week ago.
- According to National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby, they are calling it "an object because that's the best description" at the moment.