A jet flies next to a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4, 2023.
Randall Hill | Reuters
The United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of Carolina on Saturday and will attempt to recover its debris, according to a US official.
The action came hours after President Joe Biden answered a reporter’s question if the US had shot down a hot air balloon. “We’re going to deal with this,” Biden said in his first public speech about the balloon.
Speaking to reporters after the balloon was shot down, Biden said he gave the order to the Pentagon after being notified on Wednesday.
“They decided – without harming anyone on the ground – they decided that the best time to do that was when it crossed the water,” he said. “They successfully brought it down and I want to commend our pilots for doing that. And we’ll have more information to report on this later.”
According to a senior defense official, the balloon was shot down by an F-22 raptor at 2:39 p.m. with a single missile. The balloon was between 60,000 and 65,000 feet in the air when it crashed.
A senior US military official told NBC News that debris from the balloon was about seven miles across and that ships and naval divers would help recover the debris.
A Chinese spy balloon drifts into the sea after it was shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach, South Carolina, US February 4, 2023.
Randall Hill | Reuters
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the balloon was shot down on the coast of South Carolina in a statement.
“This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, a U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to the United States Northern Command successfully brought down a high-altitude surveillance balloon operated by the People’s Republic of China. PRC) launched over the waters off the coast of South Carolina. US airspace,” Austin said.
“The hot air balloon, used by China in its efforts to monitor strategic locations in the continental United States, was brought down over US territorial waters,” he said.
Biden on Wednesday “gave out he authorized the launch of the balloon as soon as the mission could be completed without undue risk to the lives of Americans in the balloon’s path. people over a large area due to the size and height of the balloon and its monitoring load.”
The senior defense official said the balloon entered US airspace on January 28 north of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska before entering Canadian airspace on Monday. It re-entered US airspace on Tuesday north of Idaho.
Hours before it was shot down, residents in North Carolina and South Carolina reported sightings of spy balloons and the Federal Aviation Administration halted departures and landings at three local airports to assist the Department of Defense in “national security efforts,” according to an FAA statement. .
Videos showing the fighter jet targeting the spy balloon and knocking it down are going viral on social media. The jets were seen approaching the balloon before it began to fall from the sky.
Several lawmakers took to social media to applaud Biden’s decision to take down the spy balloon.
“I strongly condemn President Xi’s blatant violation of US airspace, and I commend President Biden’s leadership in bringing down the Chinese hot air balloon over the water to ensure the safety of all.” Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on Twitter after the news. “We can now collect equipment and analyze the technology the CCP uses.”
