Military Finally Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon After Biden Let It Float Across Entire Country

By Phil Stewart, Jeff Mason, and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters] -A U.S. military fighter plane shot down a suspected Chinese spy ball as it floated offshore South Carolina on Saturday. The dramatic incident brought an end to a drama that highlighted the deteriorating Sino-U.S. relationship.

“We successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” President Joe Biden said.

Biden claimed that he had given an order to the balloon to be taken down on Wednesday, but the Pentagon recommended that it wait until the balloon could be lowered over open water. This would protect civilians from any debris falling to the ground from thousands of feet (meters), above commercial air traffic.

A number of fighter and refueling planes were involved in this mission. However, only one fighter aircraft — the F-22 fighter from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia — was involved. It took the shot at 239 GMT (1939 GMT) using an AIM-9X supersonic heat-seeking air-to-air missile.

Officials stated that the balloon was shot down six nautical miles from the U.S. Coast, in relatively shallow water. This could help to recover key elements of Chinese surveillance equipment within the debris.

The shootdown occurred shortly after the U.S. government had ordered that flights from three South Carolina airports (Billy, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston) be halted due to an undisclosed reason. “national security effort.” Saturday afternoon saw the return of flights.

The balloon entered U.S. Airspace on Jan. 28, and then moved into Canadian airspace on Monday, Jan 30. According to a U.S. defense officer, it re-entered U.S. Airspace on January 31. It didn’t return to open water after crossing over U.S. territory, making it difficult to shoot down.

Until Thursday, U.S. officials had not made public the presence of the balloon over the United States.

Washington called it “a” “clear violation” A U.S. official stated that the U.S. had notified Beijing of the shooting down on Saturday and declared U.S. sovereignty.

“Our assessment — and we’re going to learn more as we pick up the debris — was that it was not likely to provide significant additive value over and above other (Chinese) intel capability, such as satellites in low-Earth orbit,” According to the U.S. defense secretary, this was the first time that the shootdown had been announced. Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary, first announced the shootdown. He said that China was using the balloon to “surveil strategic objectives”.