WASHINGTON — Choppy waters have created a touch-and-go situation for military teams attempting to get well the Chinese spy balloon shot down last week off the South Carolina coast, the Defense Department said Friday.
“On account of lower than favorable sea states right away, teams will proceed to conduct underwater survey and recovery as conditions permit,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
Military teams have spent this week recovering portions of the downed balloon, including pieces of its payload. Ryder declined to specify what had been recovered to date, saying the knowledge was classified.
Officials confirmed Friday that recovery teams had positioned the balloon’s massive undercarriage on the ocean floor, some 50 feet down. The platform is believed to contain surveillance equipment that can be analyzed to offer insight into China’s spy efforts.
“Recovery teams have mapped the debris field and are within the means of trying to find and identifying debris on the ocean floor,” Ryder said. “Debris that’s been recovered to date is being loaded on vessels, taken ashore, cataloged after which moved onwards to labs for subsequent evaluation.”
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The Pentagon has been desperate to retrieve the device in hopes that its remnants may be analyzed for further insight into its capabilities, the knowledge it obtained and other intelligence on the Chinese balloon program, which officials consider has been within the works for several years.
The recovery efforts come after the US allowed the balloon to traverse the North American continent for every week before shooting it down on Feb. 4. The balloon hovered above sensitive military sites along its way after NORAD didn’t discover it as a military threat when it first entered American airspace over Alaska on Jan. 28.
An Air Force F-22 fighter jet finally shot down the balloon because it omitted the Atlantic Ocean after the military advised President Biden against taking it down over land, citing safety risks to civilians on the bottom.
WASHINGTON — Choppy waters have created a touch-and-go situation for military teams attempting to get well the Chinese spy balloon shot down last week off the South Carolina coast, the Defense Department said Friday.
“On account of lower than favorable sea states right away, teams will proceed to conduct underwater survey and recovery as conditions permit,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.
Military teams have spent this week recovering portions of the downed balloon, including pieces of its payload. Ryder declined to specify what had been recovered to date, saying the knowledge was classified.
Officials confirmed Friday that recovery teams had positioned the balloon’s massive undercarriage on the ocean floor, some 50 feet down. The platform is believed to contain surveillance equipment that can be analyzed to offer insight into China’s spy efforts.
“Recovery teams have mapped the debris field and are within the means of trying to find and identifying debris on the ocean floor,” Ryder said. “Debris that’s been recovered to date is being loaded on vessels, taken ashore, cataloged after which moved onwards to labs for subsequent evaluation.”
Commercial
Commercial
The Pentagon has been desperate to retrieve the device in hopes that its remnants may be analyzed for further insight into its capabilities, the knowledge it obtained and other intelligence on the Chinese balloon program, which officials consider has been within the works for several years.
The recovery efforts come after the US allowed the balloon to traverse the North American continent for every week before shooting it down on Feb. 4. The balloon hovered above sensitive military sites along its way after NORAD didn’t discover it as a military threat when it first entered American airspace over Alaska on Jan. 28.
An Air Force F-22 fighter jet finally shot down the balloon because it omitted the Atlantic Ocean after the military advised President Biden against taking it down over land, citing safety risks to civilians on the bottom.
