New Delhi: A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday (February 4, 2023) a week after it entered US airspace and triggered a dramatic espionage saga that escalated US-China tensions Went.
US President Joe Biden said, “They successfully took it down, and I want to congratulate our aviators.”
Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to bring the balloon down, but the Pentagon recommended waiting until civilians could see the debris from thousands of feet (meters) above commercial air traffic. This cannot be done on open water to avoid falling.
The balloon, which was about the size of three school buses, was jettisoned in relatively shallow waters, about six nautical miles off the US coast, in possible efforts to recover elements of Chinese surveillance equipment in the coming days , said the officer.
Several fighter and refueling aircraft were involved in the mission, but only one – an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia – took the shot at 1939 GMT, using an AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile, news agency Reuters reported citing a senior US military official.
The shootings came shortly after the Biden administration ordered three regional airports – Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston – to halt flights in what it said at the time was an undisclosed “national security effort”.
Point to be noted is that The balloon first entered US airspace in Alaska on 28 January. before moving into Canadian airspace on 30 January. It re-entered US airspace over northern Idaho on 31 January and once it crossed US land, it did not return to open water, making firing difficult.
Earlier this week, China expressed regret that an “airship” used for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes had strayed into US airspace.
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that the The flight of the airship over the United States was a tremendous accidentand accused American politicians and the media of taking advantage of the situation to discredit Beijing.
(with agency inputs)