The US Armed Forces shot down the Chinese spy balloon once it was already over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and after crossing the entire country from coast to coast, according to the US authorities.
The CNN reported the demolition citing anonymous official sources and explained that President Joe Biden personally gave his approval for the attack on the device.
Members of the Navy and the Coast Guard are available if necessary to recover the remains, a Defense official explained to the CNN moments before the demolition.
Several flight tracking portals reported the presence of military devices along the trajectory of the Chinese balloon. Among them are two KC-135R in-flight refueling aircraft, a C-130 Hercules. Fighters do not usually appear on these tracking portals.
Later, the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin confirmed that, under the leadership of Joe Biden, they had “successfully” shot down the Chinese “spy balloon”. For his part, he Pentagon pointed out that it wase in response to the “unacceptable” violation of the Chinese regime over the country that took days.
Minutes before, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had arranged the closure of three airports in the areawhich suggested that it could be a preventive measure against this operation, although without any type of confirmation in this regard.
“The FAA has stopped departures and arrivals at the Wilmington (ILM), Myrtle Beach International (MYR) and Charleston International (CHS) airports to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort,” the agency had reported in its social networks.
For his part, hours before, the president Joe Biden He had referred to the subject for the first time when he was consulted by journalists from New York but he had not given many details about it either. “We are taking care of it”, delcaró. However, at first, the president had refrained from shooting it down on the advice of defense experts concerned about the injuries that the remains of him could cause to people on the ground.
The situation changed when the flight projections indicated that it would approach the Atlantic Ocean, where the operation would not entail a risk to citizens.
Moments before he was killed, local authorities had warned North and South Carolinians not to fire their rifles at him and had been made aware of military aircraft arriving in the area.
Brian Branch, engineer and storm chaser, came to capture photographs of the balloon over the west of the state in which the cargo hanging from the white round balloon was distinguished and that, according to the authorities, it was the size of three school buses.
“I’m surprised they didn’t shoot it down over Montana,” Branch told the agency, however. PA.
The maneuverable balloon had entered United States airspace over Alaska earlier this week though it was not released until Thursday, a day after commercial flights ground to a temporary halt at the Billings, Montana airport and people on the ground spotted the balloon apparently hovering above the city.
The fact raised to the maximum the strain between Washington and Beijing, which tried to play it off by saying that it was a meteorological research vessel that had strayed from its route. However, the United States rejected this version and even suspended the visit of the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkento the Asian country.
(With information from AP and EFE)
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