Alaska Intercept — F-22 Shoots Down Cylindrical Object

On February 10, 2023, a United States Air Force F-22 Raptor was scrambled from Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base and shot down an unidentified object near Deadhorse, Alaska, on the North Slope. The object had been tracked by NORAD radar for approximately 24 hours before President Biden ordered it destroyed. An AIM-9X Sidewinder missile was fired, successfully downing the object. Recovery teams — including military and FBI personnel — were deployed to the crash site in the challenging Arctic environment near the Beaufort Sea. Despite extensive search operations, only limited debris was recovered. The DoD provided several public briefings but could not identify the object's nature, origin, or owner. Officials stated it was not attributed to China, Russia, or any other foreign state actor, nor to any US government program. The object was described as cylindrical, silver in color, with no visible means of propulsion. F-22 pilots reported that the object appeared to interfere with their sensors. The Alaska shootdown was one of four objects shot down by the US in 9 days in February 2023 — the others were the Chinese balloon (Feb 4), a second object over the Yukon (Feb 11), and an object over Lake Huron (Feb 12). Of the four, only the Chinese balloon was attributed. The other three, including the Alaska object, remain officially unidentified.