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posted by takyon on Saturday February 04 2023, @10:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the pop! dept.

China balloon: US shoots down airship over Atlantic

The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America.

The Department of Defense confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters.

Three airports were shut and airspace was closed off the coast of North and South Carolina as the military carried out the operation on Saturday.

Footage on US TV networks showed the balloon falling to the sea after a small explosion.

An F-22 jet fighter engaged the high-altitude balloon with one missile - an AIM-9X Sidewinder - and it went down about six nautical miles off the US coast at 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT), a defence official told reporters.

US President Joe Biden had been under pressure to shoot the balloon down since defence officials first announced they were tracking it on Thursday.

Second balloon spotted over Latin America:

On Friday, the Pentagon said a second Chinese spy balloon had been spotted - this time over Latin America with reported sightings over Costa Rica and Venezuela.

See also:

US downs Chinese balloon, a flashpoint in US-China tensions
From China to Big Sky: The Balloon That Unnerved the White House
3 Navy Warships, FBI Now Hunting for Wreckage of Chinese Spy Balloon off South Carolina
Biden's 'Sputnik moment': Is China's spy balloon political warfare?

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by toddestan on Sunday February 05 2023, @07:56AM (2 children)

    by toddestan (4982) on Sunday February 05 2023, @07:56AM (#1290344)

    Balloons can't be steered directly, but you can control where they go to some extent by changing altitude and catching wind streams moving in different directions. If that good enough to take it on a tour of a bunch of sensitive US military facilities, that I don't know.

    If you ask me, it was more of a test by China to see how and if the US reacted.

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Sunday February 05 2023, @08:15AM

    by driverless (4770) on Sunday February 05 2023, @08:15AM (#1290346)

    I reckon it was an attempt by Aliexpress to compete with Amazon's drone delivery system. I bet when they pick up the pieces it'll be a consignment of fish pillows, 10,000mAh 18650s, toilet seat night lights, and fake poo.

  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday February 05 2023, @07:16PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Sunday February 05 2023, @07:16PM (#1290387) Homepage Journal

    The government fellow on the news this morning said it had four fans to steer it.

    --
    mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org