ARKANSAS, USA — In a press conference, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, confirmed the U.S. military shot down a "high-altitude object" over northern Alaska midday Friday, February 10th. This object, roughly the size of a passenger vehicle was cruising at 40,000 FT without steering capabilities, floating east toward Canada. Where was it heading next?
Tap HERE for more information on the balloon.
Last week a Chinese spy balloon floating across the middle of the country at nearly 40 MPH at 65,000 FT. The military shot down the balloon once it was over the Atlantic Ocean.
This week, the U.S. military shot down an object over Alaska. It is not known as of yet if this was a balloon as well. The Pentagon recommended the takedown of this object due to its shared flight level with airlines. Generally intercontinental flights are near 35,000 FT to 38,000 FT. This was much closer to commercial air traffic compared to the China balloon.
It was dark while the military shot this object down. The military reports that the remains landed on ice a few miles from the Alaskan shoreline. The ice in this area is likely over 6FT thick.
Using weather models, specifically the hysplit model from NOAA, we can roughly determine where the Alaska object was going to head next.
At 40,000 the winds are generally west to east for the next few days. Over the next 96 hours (4 days), it would have ended back over water in the North Atlantic Ocean near the southern tip of Greenland.
As of now, it is not known if the object was owned by a foreign government or a private company.
-5NEWS Weather