BREAKING US fighter jets shot down an unknown high-altitude object over Alaska

A “high-altitude object” has been shot down over Alaska in the past hour, the White House has said.

Spokesman John Kirby said the object was “the size of a small car” and was over a sparsely populated area at the time.

UPDATE Helicopters and transport aircraft have been deployed to collect debris from the frozen waters of the Beaufort Sea.

President Joe Biden took the decision to shoot down the object, which was of unknown origin, Mr Kirby said.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Mr Kirby explained that the object over Alaska was travelling at 40,000ft and could have posed a threat to civilian aircraft.

He added that its debris field was “much, much smaller” than the balloon shot down last week off the coast of South Carolina.

Intelligence officials became aware of the object on Thursday evening, Mr Kirby said.

He said a fighter jet had approached the object and assessed it was unmanned, and this information was available to Mr Biden when he made his decision.

The object was shot down at 18.45 UTC with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile from a Lockheed F-22 Raptor from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage.

Officials have not yet determined whether the object was involved in surveillance, and Mr Kirby corrected a reporter who referred to it as a balloon.