US fighter jet shoots down ‘object the size of small car that posed a reasonable threat’ flying at 40,000ft over Alaska

A US fighter jet has shot down an unidentified object flying 40,000ft over Alaska after Pentagon officials said it "posed a reasonable threat."

President Joe Biden ordered it to be erased from the skies just days after the military took down the Chinese spy balloon.

Authorities were on alert and had been tracking the object, which officials have not dubbed a balloon, over the last 24 hours.

An F-22 aircraft shot it down with a Sidewinder missile after it entered Alaskan airspace, with its remains scattering across the frozen sea.

The object, described as the size of a small car, posed a "reasonable threat" to the safety of civilian flights, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

"We don't know who owns this object," he added.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object, and they did, and it came inside our territorial waters, and those waters right now are frozen."

A US Air Force HC-130J was sent to stalk the skies off the Alaskan coast, flying as low as 725 feet at times.

Data from flight tracking service FlightRadar24 shows the aircraft circling an area close to Prudhoe Bay at the time the unidentified object was downed.

He said the object did not have a "significant payload" like the first surveillance balloon shot down over the weekend.

Biden told that the shootdown of the "high-altitude object" hovering over Alaska "was a success."

According to , pilots tasked with shooting down the object described it as "cylindrical."

Officials speaking anonymously with the publication said the object did not have surveillance technology on board.

Kirby said Biden was briefed on the object on Thursday evening, as "soon as the Pentagon had enough information."

"It did not appear to be self-maneuvering."

U.S. officials said it was too early to determine whether the object belongs to the Chinese government or a private enterprise.

Unlike the first Chinese spy balloon, officials will be able to recover the remains after it was shot down over frozen waters, Kirby said.

A US official said the military had waited to shoot down the object in daylight so it was easier for the pilots to spot it.

He added that officials did not understand the full purpose of the object, adding that it did not appear to maneuver like a spy balloon.

Kirby said the U.S. will "remain vigilant about our airspace" after the latest incident.

The Governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy, praised the military for "eliminating the potential threat before it was flying over our land."

RISING TENSIONS

The action comes less than a week after the Pentagon shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of .