On Saturday afternoon, a US jet intercepted a Chinese surveillance balloon as it was about to leave the US mainland. Live footage of the event shows a contrail of aircraft approaching the balloon, followed by a plume of smoke that may indicate the detonation of some weapon near the balloon’s envelope. The envelope apparently loses its structural integrity as it plummets toward the sea shortly thereafter. The event was reportedly held near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Here’s a video shot down by Katie Herman near Myrtle Beach. #ChineseSpyBalloon pic.twitter.com/KmT9rL2bR7
— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) February 4, 2023
Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued a statement attributed to its Secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, confirming that the interception was carried out by U.S. fighter jets on the orders of President Biden. The Pentagon said it identified the hardware as a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” and allowed the president to shoot it down Wednesday. However, the military determined that this could not be done without endangering U.S. citizens from debris from the balloon itself, or the weaponry used to destroy the balloon.
As a result, the military waited until the balloon had taken off and was no longer in danger of landing, but got close enough to stay within U.S. territorial waters, allowing the U.S. to be the first to find hardware that survived the bombing. can be collected. jump into the sea. Secretary Austin also thanked Canada’s cooperative North American defense organization for his assistance in tracking and intercepting the balloon through NORAD.
It’s unclear how much information value hardware could have that survives a drop into the ocean from that altitude. Of course, it was also unclear whether the balloon flight across the United States had intellectual value in the first place.
