The Department of Defense confirmed a fighter jet shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floated off the coast of South Carolina.
The spy balloon was floating at an altitude where planes don't fly but would be shot down if it posed a threat to civilian aviation.WASHINGTON – A U.S. warplane shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast Saturday afternoon, sending its surveillance gear into relatively shallow water where recovery efforts began immediately, Pentagon officials announced.
President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon to down the balloon on Wednesday but commanders worried about debris killing people on the ground. Senior Pentagon officials, briefing reporters Saturday, revealed that suspected surveillance balloons from China had breached U.S. airspace three times during the Trump administration and at other times during Biden's tenure. The balloon shot down Saturday had made the longest incursion, they said. The officials described the shoot down and recovery efforts on condition of anonymity under Defense Department ground rules.
The balloon entered Alaskan airspace at the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28, the Pentagon said. It drifted into Canadian airspace on January 30 and breached the airspace in the continental United States at Idaho on Jan. 31. Commanders declined to shoot down the balloon over Montana, fearing debris could kill people or damage buildings on the ground.The debris recovered from the ocean will be examined to help determine Chinese spying capabilities, the Pentagon said.
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