The suspected Chinese spy balloon spotted over U.S. airspace in recent days was shot down on Saturday by an F-22 fighter jet near the Carolina coastline, officials said.
President Biden said he ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday, but national security officials were concerned about the damage it could cause and waited until it was over water instead of land.
“They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden told reporters on Saturday, as an operation was underway to recover debris from the balloon — which had been floating at an altitude of around 60,000 feet — in the Atlantic Ocean. A livestream of the balloon showed it deflated and falling toward the water below.
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