WASHINGTON: Less than a week after the military brought down the Chinese balloon, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet on Friday shot down an unidentified object flying high over Alaska, as reported by U.S. officials.

According to American Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon's top spokesman, a Sidewinder missile brought down the most recent craft, which was about the size of a small car.

According to White House spokesman John Kirby, "We don't know who owns this object" and "It's unclear where it started its flight."

The shootdown was authorized by President Joe Biden, who made the announcement from the White House.

After a week-long journey across the United States and some of Canada, the Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by another American F-22 fighter jet on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina, according to the American government. According to the Chinese government, it was a civilian research vessel.

The president received criticism from some lawmakers for not shooting down the Chinese balloon sooner. Out of concern for injuries from falling debris, the U.S. military had advised waiting until it was over the ocean.

The latest object was much smaller than the Chinese balloon, but the Pentagon and the White House declined to provide further details.

Even after a day of observation, U.S. officials refrained from speculating about the nature of the object. This raised concerns about what kind of object could be so challenging to identify by seasoned U.S. pilots and intelligence officials.

It was initially discovered on Thursday, according to the Pentagon, using ground radars. Then an F-35 was sent to look into it. The UFO was endangering civilian air traffic as it flew at a height of about 40,000 feet (12,190 meters) in a northeasterly direction.

The target was shot down over frozen U.S. territorial waters close to the Canadian border, off the coast of northeastern Alaska. Officials claimed that retrieving the object's fragments from the ice would be much simpler than doing the same for the Chinese balloon, a portion of which sank into the ocean after being shot down.

According to Ryder, American pilots who were flying alongside the most recent object before it was shot down discovered there were no people inside. It could not manoeuvre and did not resemble an airplane, he continued. Ryder and other government representatives refused to say whether it might just be a weather balloon or another kind of balloon.

According to Ryder, it wasn't an aircraft in the traditional sense.

At 1:45 PM Eastern Time, the F-22 destroyed the object.

Ryder acknowledged that the American military commander in charge of North American airspace had the authority to shoot down objects that posed a military risk or a risk to the American people when asked why Biden's consent was required.

In this specific instance, it was found that this posed a legitimate threat to air traffic, according to Ryder.

In order to support Department of Defense operations, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claimed it had closed some airspace in northern Alaska.

The 200-foot-tall (60-meter-high) Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon was shot down, and since then, American officials have been searching the ocean for wreckage and the electronic equipment's undercarriage.

Ryder told reporters that "a significant" portion of the balloon had already been found or recovered, implying that American officials might soon have more knowledge about any Chinese espionage equipment on board the ship.

Some lawmakers praised Biden after Friday's object was shot down.

Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed his satisfaction that the president moved quickly to address this latest intrusion into our airspace.

Congressmen criticized the Pentagon for not shooting down the Chinese balloon earlier during a frequently contentious Senate hearing on Thursday, highlighting ongoing concerns in Congress about weaknesses in the U.S. ability to protect its airspace.