The US military shot down an object flying over Alaskan airspace on Friday, the White House said.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the Defense Department tracked an object at 40,000 feet over Alaska that posed a threat to the safety of civilian flights.

According to Kirby, the object was shot down on Friday afternoon by order of US President Joe Biden and fell in the US waters.

He noted that the US government is still collecting information about this object. It is not yet known whether it was used by another country or was privately or commercially owned.

Also, Kirby did not say whether the object was an aerostat or another device.

He said they call it an "object" because that's the best description they have at the moment.

They don't understand the purpose and don't have any information that will confirm the purpose of that object, he added.

According to Kirby, Biden was informed about the matter.

The Pentagon also made a statement regarding the downed aerial object.

Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, said the North American Aerospace Defense Command detected the object on ground-based radar on Thursday and dispatched a plane for further investigation, after which a decision was made to shoot it down.