'High-altitude object' entered U.S. airspace before being detected, FOX News reports
the Pentagon says President Biden gave the order Friday to shoot down an object that was seen flying at a high altitude over Alaska. Still, there are so many details about the object that essentially remain a mystery, including what it is. Lucas Tomlinson with Fox News joins us live from DC to talk more about it. Lucas, thank you so much for being here. My pleasure, Josh. We've just learned the last few hours of senior U. S.
official confirming to Fox that this mysterious object was able to penetrate U. S. airspace before it was picked up by NORAD and subsequently shot down by the U. S. Air Force over northern Alaska. Very rugged terrain. A search effort is underway to recover as much debris as possible.
Unlike the Chinese spy bloom shot down over South Carolina last weekend, Josh, this one shot down over the frozen tundra of northern Alaska. Prudhoe Bay home to the largest oil field in North America. Temperatures right now minus 20 degrees. That does not include windshield. Josh. Very cold out there for sure. Actually spoke with an expert who said that it could be a difficult journey to be able to get, you know, the remnants and possible payload of that object.
If there is one there now at this point, we don't know exactly where that object came from or I guess really even what it is. That's correct. Both at the White House and the Pentagon right now. They're not describing this as anything more than a high altitude object when asked if it was a drone. It wouldn't comment asked if it was a balloon wouldn't comment. There's been some reports. This is a smaller type balloon, but the Pentagon has not confirmed that and they also said they don't know where this first came from.
All we know is the size the ways was described is about the size of a small car. Josh, you compare that to the Chinese spy craft shot down off the coast of South Carolina last weekend. That was about 2000 pounds of spy machine about the size of three school buses. So three school buses compared to a small car. That's what we're dealing with right now. Much smaller object. The US military was able to scramble F 35 stealth fighter jets Thursday night when his first detected.
They took a look. They tracked it for many hours. They actually asked President Biden for permission to shoot it down. He gave the order hours later. It was shot down over Alaska. Certainly it feels like US military taking more aggressive approach. Certainly it does not appear like they're gonna let this spy craft travel have a week long odyssey like that last one last weekend.
And that kind of brings up an interesting point because the question is, would they have ordered it shot down this quickly if it hadn't been for the Chinese five balloon that everyone has been talking about since it was shot down one week ago today? Officials are not weighing in directly on that question, but it certainly it appears that this is a much more aggressive stance by the US military when this was detected over Alaska, much like the previous five. Remember that spy balloon two weeks ago was spotted over first spotted January 28th over the Aleutian Islands. That's also part of Alaska. But officials thought that balloon was not going to hang a right and then traverse over Canada and then go over the entire continental United States after it first entered, you know, Idaho and then Montana going over those nuclear missile silos and then cruising across the United States. Officials were not going to take that chance. This time certainly appears like this much more aggressive posture from the Pentagon, but it is worth noting once again the fact that this latest spy object was able to penetrate US airspace going undetected is not a good sign for the US military. Keep in mind US American spy satellites orbiting high overhead they're designed to look at missile launches when North Korea launches a missile.
There's a reason the world knows within seconds because that spy satellite has seen the launch. It's obviously tracking the launch before that when the missiles first moved from storage put out in place for launch. They also know what type of missile is just based on the flame because there's a whole inventory of information in the US spy agencies. Right now they just do not have that with the balloons. The reason they detected them going back to the Trump administration is they're taking these electronic signatures and they're matching it. Kind of like going through your inbox. It's one thing to go email by email, but it helps when you have keywords, right Josh? So that's essentially what they're doing.
They're going back in time comparing this data to other objects and finding these matches, but it's certainly very concerning that just in the last few days that on Thursday night one of these objects was spotted already flying over Alaska before it was detected. Then that's another reason they were quick to shoot it down. And we know there were two different news conferences yesterday where this was mentioned. I know it's the weekend, but if they given any kind of indication there at the White House, whether we can expect to actually learn anything more about this today, tomorrow or even in the coming days. They'll certainly be press briefings beginning on Monday once again, but this weekend right here at the White House, President Biden is getting ready to host the governors of the United States. Just about all the governors of the United States are here tonight. Of course, Ron DeSantis is not going to be among them, but there are certainly governors throughout the United States.
Right now the White House is focused on domestic policy and certainly this expected announcement by President Biden that he's running for reelection in 2024. Right now there's not a huge priority, it seems right now, to be able to want to go out. So it unlikely will hear much from the President when it comes to that. That being said, if there's a pool spray, if the President, when he's gathered around with the governors, if cameras are allowed in, it was just tradition for a quick pool spray, you probably will hear shat of questions from the press, from the press pool about this latest object that was shot down. You could also have questions, of course, on a host of other domestic issues. Of course, the State of the Union address wasn't even a week ago, so you have that speech at the Dysak Digest as well to follow up on. I definitely feel like several reporters there will be kind of screaming out questions at him to get those answers or at least hope for, you know, any kind of answer.
Lucas Tomlinson there with Fox News. Anything that you want to add about all this before I let you go? If I get in there, I will certainly try to get the President's attention on this object that was shot down over the sky, Josh. This, I promise you. Perfect. All right, Lucas. Thanks so much. Have a good rest of your day.
You as well.
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