The United States military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, according to reports. The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that garnered headlines earlier this week when it was floating over Montana at 60,000 feet made it to the East Coast, but was shot down. The Federal Aviation Administration shut down airports because of a “national security effort” related to the mysterious balloon.
A U.S. military operation shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the East Coast. There were reportedly U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the area to collect debris in the Atlantic Ocean.
Purported video shows the moment that U.S. aircraft shot down the suspected spy balloon as it exploded in the air.
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Before the operation on Saturday afternoon, the FAA paused departures and arrivals at three international airports on the East Coast. The FAA grounded flights to and from South Carolina airports in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, as well as Wilmington in North Carolina. The closures of the airports were carried out to “support the Department of Defense in a national security effort.”
Earlier on Saturday in Syracuse, New York, President Joe Biden was asked about the Chinese spy balloon, and he simply said, “We’re going to take care of it.”
A Bloomberg report stated that the Biden administration became aware of the Chinese spy balloon on Jan. 28.
The New York Times previously reported, “Military leaders advised then against shooting down the balloon, which was roughly the size of three buses, because of the possibility of harm to civilians and infrastructure while it was over land. But the arrival — and extended stay — of the balloon over American territory prompted furious calls from senior U.S. officials to their Chinese counterparts, and the cancellation of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s planned visit to China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that the airship was a weather balloon that entered U.S. airspace by accident.
This is a breaking story and will be updated when new details become available.
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