US shoots down Chinese ‘surveillance’ balloon

The US confirms that it has “successfully” shot down the Chinese “spy balloon” that had been flying over the territory for days.

• Event China acknowledges that the balloon flying over the US missile bases is its own
• Conflict A spy balloon flies over the United States

The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J Austinconfirmed this Saturday that USAby an order given by the president Joe Biden Last Wednesday, it “successfully” shot down the Chinese “spy balloon” that had been flying over the territory for days.

Through a statement, he specified that the device, “which was being used by the People’s Republic of China in an attempt to monitor strategic sites in the continental United States” was shot down with two combat planes over the waters of the Atlantic, in front of the South Carolina coast.

Minutes later, Biden himself spoke briefly, who declared to the media that accompanied him that the balloon had been shot down “successfully” and that he himself gave the order last Wednesday.

This is also explained by the Defense statement: “On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to shoot down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to the lives of Americans who are in the trajectory of the balloon” .

After “careful analysis,” U.S. military commanders “determined that shooting down the balloon while on the ground posed an undue risk to people over a wide area because of the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload.”

The Department of Defense developed options to shoot down the balloon “safely” over water and decided to finally carry out the action on Saturday, which “was taken in coordination and with the full support of the Canadian government.”

“Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the security of the American people first as they respond effectively to the People’s Republic of China’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.” the statement ends. EFE

Thus concludes what has been the greatest US-China military crisis since in march 2011 a us spy plane collided with a chinese fighter in international airspace, and was forced to make a forced landing in the asian country. China returned the plane and crew to the US, but first dismembered the plane to look at its electronic systems, most of which had survived the incident intact. The pilot of the Chinese fighter died.

The balloon was shot down when it began to fly over the Atlantic Ocean after having made a journey of more than 3,000 kilometers above the United States. The White House had followed the advice of the Air Force and waited until the ship was over the sea to avoid that the remains of it could cause property or personal damage. Now, a recovery plan for the balloon wreckage is underway, with Navy and Coast Guard ships conducting the search in a region that, curiously, was the northern limit of the Spanish Empire in the seventeenth century.

The gondola with the alleged observation systems that carried the balloon measures about 30 meters in length and has several solar panels to keep the observation devices running. Total, the aircraft is the size of three buses, according to the US Department of Defense. Theoretically, what the US is most interested in are those observation systems, although it is likely that it also wants to know the material the balloon is made of. In the 1950s, the Soviet Union obtained material for its space program after shooting down several American spy balloons launched from Western Europe.

Videos taken by people in the region with their mobile phones show the wake of a fighter – possibly an F-22, although there is no official confirmation – approaching the balloon and launching a missile at it. Seconds later, the balloon explodes and falls. At the moment, the authorities have limited themselves to confirming the demolition. The area where the action took place is full of military basesincluding several from the Air Force, and the Marine Military Academy, on the island of Parris, the scene of countless movies.

China first denied that the globe existed. Later, he said that it was a weather observation device that it had been lost. There is a second balloon flying over Latin America that has been seen in the last 24 hours in Colombia and Costa Rica.