The US military has downed the suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean after President Joe Biden approved the operation, US defense officials said.
Navy assets and Coast Guard assets are on standby if required for any possible recovery efforts, officials said prior to the balloon being shot down.
The balloon was first spotted in the sky over Montana earlier this week and traveled across the middle of the country, following weather patterns before it exited the continental United States on Saturday.
President Biden said that he had ordered the Pentagon to knock the aircraft out of the sky as soon as it was safe to do so.
“On Wednesday when I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down — on Wednesday — as soon as possible,” the president told reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland.
“They decided, without doing damage to anyone on the ground, they decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water … within a 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” the president added.
Asked if that was a recommendation from his national security team, Biden reiterated: “I told them to shoot it down. They said to me, ‘Let’s wait for the safest place to do it.’”
Videos showing the balloon being shot down off the coast of the Carolinas have been shared on social media.
WATCH: The moment the Chinese spy balloon was shot down pic.twitter.com/DhjcjVPA9f
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 4, 2023
We had to listen Republicans attack Biden for not shooting down the "Chinese spy balloon" because he didn't want to risk harm to Americans.
Now that he ordered it to be shot down off the Carolina coast will they all apologize?Thanks Joe Biden
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) February 4, 2023
