A balloon flies within the sky over Billings, Montana, U.S. February 1, 2023, on this picture obtained from social media.
Chase Doak via Reuters
The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been transiting across the country for several days, in keeping with NBC News.
Department of Defense officials haven’t yet confirmed the balloon being shot down.
The high-altitude balloon, which is estimated to be the scale of three school busses, was floating over U.S. territorial waters when it was taken down. TV footage shows the balloon bursting in a small explosion before falling into the water. Officials will try to get better the debris, in keeping with NBC News.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop in parts of North Carolina and South Carolina and closed additional airspace on Saturday afternoon. The departures were paused “to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort,” a representative told CNBC.
President Joe Biden broke his silence concerning the balloon for the primary time Saturday, telling a bunch of reporters, “We’ll deal with it.”
The balloon was initially spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. Defense officials said the Pentagon considered shooting down the balloon earlier this week but decided against it after briefing Biden. The choice was made in consultation with senior leaders, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Biden concluded that the U.S. wouldn’t shoot down the balloon because debris from it could cause damage on the bottom, a Pentagon official said. Furthermore, any information the balloon collects would have “limited additive value” compared with China’s spy satellites.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that the balloon was a civilian weather airship intended for scientific research that was blown astray. It described the incident because of this of a “force majeure” for which it was not responsible.
This claim was summarily dismissed by U.S. officials. A senior Pentagon official told reporters Thursday night that the thing was clearly a surveillance balloon that was flying over sensitive sites to gather intelligence.
“We have now noted the PRC statement of regret, however the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a transparent violation of our sovereignty in addition to international law and is unacceptable that this has occurred,” the official said.
The presence of the balloon prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to indefinitely postpone what was to be an already tense trip to China on Friday.
The visit was intended to strengthen communication and cooperation between the 2 countries as tensions have deepened over China’s increasing military aggression toward Taiwan and closer alliances with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As a substitute, Blinken told China’s director of Central Foreign Affairs Office, Wang Yi, in a phone call Friday that the balloon was an “irresponsible act and a transparent violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law that undermined the aim of the trip,” in keeping with a readout of the discussion.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
—CNBC’s Christina Wilkie and Amanda Macias contributed to this report
