WATCH: Here's how Chinese 'spy' balloon was shot down off Carolina coast
An F-22 fighter jet took the shot at 2:39 p.m. (1939 GMT), using a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile, a senior US military official said. The balloon first entered US airspace on January 28 before moving into Canadian airspace on Monday. It then re-entered US airspace on January 31, a US defense official said.
FollowThe Pentagon shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon spotted flying over North America, that had ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described the operation as a "planned and legitimate action" that was undertaken in reaction to China's "unacceptable infringement of our sovereignty" shortly after the event.
President Joe Biden thanked the pilots for acting quickly. "They were able to take it down... I want to thank our aviators who accomplished it," he stated during a press conference held at the White House.
American authorities originally reported on Thursday that they were monitoring a sizable Chinese "surveillance balloon" in the US sky, according to an AFP report. The next day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the decision to cancel a special trip to Beijing intended to defuse escalating US-China tensions.
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China had initially denied any connection to the aircraft, but after some reluctance, Beijing acknowledged ownership. The "airship" was a weather balloon that had been blown off track, according to the report.
The Chinese foreign ministry stated on Sunday that it had "clearly demanded that the United States appropriately manage the problem in a calm, professional and restrained manner" in response to the Pentagon's decision to shoot down the balloon.
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Over relatively shallow sea, around six nautical miles off the coast of the United States, a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down. According to reports, efforts to find pieces of the Chinese surveillance equipment in the coming days were reportedly helped by the spy balloon.
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