A U.S. fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy blimp above the Atlantic Ocean off the South Carolina coast Saturday, ending a three-day spectacle that dominated headlines and created an international incident.
The operation took place at the direction of President Joe Biden in U.S. airspace as the balloon drifted over the water. Officials said the balloon was successfully downed by a single missile at 2:39 p.m. “I told them to shoot it down,” Biden reporters, during a travel stop in Hagerstown, Md. on the way to Camp David.
Shooting the large, slow-moving balloon over the ocean reduced the risk of falling debris causing damage or casualties, a concern that military commanders had earlier in the week as it drifted eastward across the country. Biden said he authorized the U.S. military to take down the surveillance balloon on Wednesday as soon as possible without endangering Americans on the ground.
The Federal Aviation Administration restricted airspace Saturday afternoon over three cities in North and South Carolina as military assets moved into position. The balloon was flying at roughly 60,000 feet, an altitude about twice that of normal civilian air traffic. In the aftermath of the unmanned balloon being shot down, U.S. officials say, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard is trying to retrieve the wreckage to obtain insights into its surveillance payload— what’s described as a basket of equipment under the craft.
“Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the (People’s Republic of China’s) unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. “The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to…
