The Department of Defense shared photos of the military's recovery effort for the downed Chinese spy balloon on Tuesday.
"Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023," the U.S. Fleet Forces tweeted Tuesday morning, noting that the photos were taken on Sunday.The military shot down the Chinese balloon last Saturday once it reached the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Carolinas — a week after it first entered U.S. airspace over the Aleutian Islands.
Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the assessment was that the actual balloon was"up to 200 feet tall," while he described the payload"as a jet airliner type of size, maybe a regional jet" and said it probably weighed"in excess of a couple thousand pounds."
The USS Carter Hall has been focused on"collecting debris and categorizing the debris since arrival," VanHerck told reporters on Monday, adding that the USS Pathfinder is focused on using unmanned underwater vehicles to"eventually produce us a map" of the suspected debris field.
"There was a potential opportunity for us to collect intel where we had gaps on prior balloons," VanHerck explained."And so I would defer to the intel community, but this gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed. And I think you'll see in the future that the time frame was well worth its value to collect over.
📍ATLANTIC OCEAN - @USNavy Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. pic.twitter.com/QwjSFQEw1b
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Trump 'never informed' of Chinese balloons by Pentagon: CongressmanMichael Waltz said he had been told by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's office that spy balloons had been spotted in the U.S. in recent years.
Read more »
Pentagon reports past Chinese surveillance balloons near Florida, TexasSeveral previous incursions of U.S. airspace by Chinese surveillance balloons were occurred Texas, Florida, Hawaii and Guam, defense officials have told Congress.
Read more »
Pentagon shoots down Chinese balloon, GOP claims on the same dayRepublicans saw the Chinese surveillance balloon as a political winner — until Donald Trump's record got in the way. (via MaddowBlog)
Read more »
Pompeo calls out 'deeply dangerous' accusation Trump Pentagon didn't notify WH of Chinese balloonsFormer Secretary of State and ex-Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo sounded off Monday regarding the potential there have been three prior Chinese spycraft flyovers.
Read more »
How the Chinese spy balloon drama played out on Chinese-owned TikTokDespite concern China will use TikTok to push Chinese propaganda, TikTok's recommendation algorithm sent millions of viewers to videos that showed one of China's most embarrassing geopolitical blunders.
Read more »