In early February, a US fighter jet took down a Chinese balloon. The debris is currently being examined by the FBI. The Pentagon is now releasing a close-up of the balloon just before launch.
The Pentagon has released a photo of the suspected Chinese spy balloon. It shows the balloon hovering over the United States mainland on February 3, according to the US Department of Defense. The photo was taken from the cockpit of a US military reconnaissance aircraft. Just one day later, the US military shot down the Chinese balloon over the Atlantic off the coast of the state of South Carolina.
The salvage of the balloon had already been completed at the end of last week. The debris is now being evaluated by the FBI's counterintelligence agency. "Most of the balloon, including the cargo, has been recovered," Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. She did not want to give any further details on the evaluation of the rubble and referred to the FBI.
The United States accuses China of using the balloon to spy on military installations. Beijing, on the other hand, speaks of a civilian research balloon that was thrown off course by "force majeure". The incident caused additional tension in the already strained relationship. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's top foreign policy leader Wang Yi met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last weekend. Initially, however, there were no signs of relaxation afterwards.
According to a Washington Post report, the US military had been following the balloon's route since it was launched. The balloon took off from its home base on the southern Chinese island of Hainan and initially took a trajectory that led it over the US territory of Guam, where several US military bases are located.
But then he unexpectedly took a northerly course. The balloon later hovered over Alaska's Aleutian Islands and then drifted over Canada, from where it appeared to have been blown towards the mainland United States by strong winds.
