F-22 shot it down with a sidewinder missile, Ryder said. aircraft take down the new high-altitude object and a U.S. F-22 aircraft monitored the object over Alaska, then Canadian aircraft joined as it crossed into Canadian airspace, he said.įollowing a call from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to President Biden, Biden authorized that U.S. 10, according to Ryder, the Pentagon spokesperson. The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected a high-altitude object over Alaska late on Feb. Ryder said the object was detected by ground radar. "We don't know who owns this object," Kirby said.Īt the Pentagon, Brig Gen. "And the president just wasn't able to take that risk." Kirby said the "predominant" reason Biden ordered it shot down was the "safety" of flights traveling at that altitude and the fact that it was at the mercy of prevailing winds made its flight path less predictable. 9, gave the order to shoot it down on the morning of Feb. official said.Īsked if was "balloon-like," the official said, "All I say is that it wasn't 'flying' with any sort of propulsion, so if that is 'balloon-like' well - we just don't have enough at this point." The object was described as "cylindrical and silver-ish gray" and seemed to be floating, a U.S. "It was difficult for the pilots to glean a whole lot of information," he said, adding, "There was a limit to how much they could divine." Two F-22s tracked the object and one of them fired the AIM-9X sidewinder missile near the location of Deadhorse, Alaska, which is right on Prudhoe Bay, according to the Pentagon.įighter aircraft checked if the object was manned and determined it wasn't, Kirby said. 10, to try to learn more and that flight "ended in a shootdown," Kirby said. The jets did another flight "early this morning," on Feb. He said it was a small object and, according to the Pentagon, it was traveling "northeasterly across Alaska" and two F-35 fighter jets were sent up to identify it. 9, White House spokesman John Kirby later told reporters. It did violate international law." A second flying object, over AlaskaĪnother object was seen late on Feb. "It's immaterial because this was a high-altitude surveillance balloon that did violate our airspace. "I'm not going to opine on what the may or may not have intended, but in key ways it doesn't matter. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that didn't matter whether the aircraft was blown off course - it was still a violation of U.S. airspace, it was intentionally flown over sensitive U.S. The agencies have been examining the possibility that weather conditions pushed the balloon off course, as first reported by The Washington Post, and that the Chinese may not have initially intended to traverse the United States. intelligences agencies were tracking the spy balloon when it left China on what they thought would be an eastward path toward Guam and Hawaii when it took an unexpected northern turn toward Alaska, according to a U.S. It had not yet been retrieved, the officials said, but would likely be done with a crane or a winch from a vessel.ĪBC News confirmed that U.S. officials said the undercarriage of the balloon was located in waters off South Carolina.Īn official told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz it was found on Feb. specifically near Coronado, California, and Norfolk, Virginia - where two of the nation's largest naval bases are located. official previously told ABC Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that incursions into American airspace had also taken place over Hawaii and off the coast of the continental U.S. In a television interview, Defense Secretary Austin said the aircraft had been detected over parts of Florida and Texas.Ī senior U.S. It was equipped with solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors," a State Department official said.Īdministration officials also revealed more information on China's prior balloon operations targeting the U.S. The downed balloon "had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications. assesses that China has overflown surveillance balloons above 40 countries, which ABC News and other outlets have previously reported. territory.Īn official confirmed that the U.S. Separately, State Department official said that the Biden administration was looking into "taking action" against China for the surveillance balloons sent over U.S. Only an "extremely limited" amount of the vessel was recovered so far and brought to the FBI's evidence collection lab at Quantico, the officials said. Senior FBI officials familiar with the operation said in a conference call with reporters that the bureau's evidence response team had retrieved only a small amount of the balloon and didn't yet have enough evidence to conclude what China's intent was.
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