Recovery efforts are underway to retrieve the debris from the downed balloon, Pentagon officials said. The balloon was shot down by an F-22.
RELATED: Chinese spy balloon shot down off coast of South Carolina, DOD says
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.
The balloon was downed after it passed into U.S. territorial waters, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.The balloon, which carried a large payload of spy gear according to U.S. officials, had soared over several strategic sites, including nuclear missile silos, and became the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.
President Joe Biden ordered the Pentagon to down the balloon on Wednesday but commanders worried about debris killing people on the ground.
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#China #Spy #Balloon
Great job. They shot it down after it completely finished its job, capturing video of the entire nation.
It’s the equivalent of an officer who does not come guns drawn to save the day, but rather comes five minutes late, with a piece of chalk to draw the outline around where your dead body lies.
That’s not how it works my guy.
@AmethystEyeswell… if that was the case… they still shot it down without knowing that 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
💀
@AmethystEyes that would literally mean war. It would be a weapon at that point.
@sappa6401
You don’t think China had videos of our entire country before this balloon?
Should have be taken out when it made it in Alaska, it was heading to Washington D.C
Now imagine they strap an emp to one of them things
Typical Brandon, a day late and a dollar short!
@AmethystEyes What was wrong with the pacific ocean. You know before it reached Alaska 🤔
The whole world is laughing at &tupid Americans and their &tupid president Joe.
Yep!
Biden isn’t some Supreme leader wannabe like Trump was, he lost get over your miserable existence
@AmethystEyes Nice try, liberal kool-aid drinker, but there was plenty of opportunity to shoot it down safely days ago.
Wow, literally a day late and a dollar short. They should have shot it down over the pacific not over the Atlantic, we are such tools 🙁
What’s with the split in the con trail? At first I thought one was the missile con trail after it came off the rail and the other was the raptor that fired it.
Problem with that is that the wider con trial accelerates past the smaller one. The top speed of an Aim 9 is Mach 2.5 and a Raptor is Mach 2.2. In full afterburner, it could catch an AIM 9, let alone accelerate past it.
All that being said….it’s still the most likely explanation (Occam’s Razor). Got to be some factor I’m not taking into account or some capability of the missile itself I’m unaware of. The AIM 9 X is supposed to be guided visually through a HMD, so maybe that’s what’s happened here. One would, knowing it was over water, the pilot would have simply put a half second burst of 20mm fire into it. Even the shells that didn’t make contact would fall into the ocean. Originally I thought it was to not damage the payload but if you look at the slow mo, that missile didn’t impact the ballon directly, it proximity detonated. Can’t imagine a few pound of shrapnel at high velocity isn’t going to muck up the payload, right?
The missile had a trail for a little bit, but I believe it speeds up super quick once it really locks on, why it disappears. And then the balloon pops, and then a few seconds later the raptor flys past the ballon
Took about 6 seconds for the raptor to catch up
What can these do that Google Maps can’t 🤔
High integrity is measured by continuous consistency!!! If you want to be measured by it!! You follow it!! You’re trained by it!! It becomes you without regard to popularity!! We should not be quick to act on this scenario!!!Diplomacy is the only way to react!!! Americans don’t want war!!! Period!!!
the kid who accidentally let go the balloon he just bought: 👁👄👁……..
his 1000 lbs balloon
🤣🤣🤣
One balloon vs F-22 Raptors (x2) + F-15 Eagles + Several Tankers + Cruiser + Amphibious Landing Ship and a Destroyer. Imagine if the Chinese sent a fighter jet ……
what
why did they wait so long?? Makes you wonder how much money they got for letting that thing stay in the air over our country.
something 200 feet tall isnt very safe to shoot down over land
And the Chinese satellite captured the whole thing.
it’s unfortunate that the only F22 kill is on a balloon
I would say it’s fortunate it’s never needed to be used up until now.
How do we know it was actually a spy balloon?
the explosives on it are a pretty good indicator.
F22 pilot: I see the enemy ..… Fox one ….. @%*@, missile is not tracking. They must have used countermeasures.
Ground control: Idiot, that‘s the moon!
Anyone wanna question what came out of the ballon ?!?!?
👍👍👍👍👍👍
Will there be more
Took em’ long enough.