Sensors from the first suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the U.S. have been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean amongst other “significant debris,” the U.S. military announced late Monday.
The revelation came just hours after the White House said there is “no” evidence of any “alien or extraterrestrial activity” around the recent “takedowns” of unidentified flying objects that followed.
The high-altitude Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a government spy ship, spent a week slowly crossing U.S. and Canada territory before President Joe Biden finally ordered it shot down off the South Carolina coast.
The U.S. military’s northern command said in a statement: “Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure.”
The downing of the balloon on 4 February has been followed by a further three unidentified objects being shot down over North American airspace.
The FBI is examining the items which the U.S. says were used to spy on sensitive military sites.
@RealUSC via StoryfulAbout 30-40ft of the balloon’s antenna are among the items found, according to CBS.
U.S. officials said the high-altitude balloon originated in China and was used for surveillance, but China maintains it was merely a weather-monitoring airship innocently mapping global wind patterns that had somehow been blown astray.
White House spokesman John Kirby said all objects so far shot down did not pose “any direct threat to people on the ground”, but were destroyed “to protect our security, our interests and flight safety.”
The balloon shot down over South Carolina was described by officials as the size of three buses.
In this U.S. Navy handout, Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a high-altitude balloon for transport to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Feb. 10, 2023. (Ryan Seelbach/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
The second object, over Alaska, was described by officials as the size of a “small car” while the third object, over the Yukon, was “cylindrical.”
The fourth object brought down from the skies over Michigan was said to be “octagonal” with strings attached.
A Pentagon memo later outlined the flying object shot down over Yukon appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it.”
Defence officials also wrote in the memo the object shot down in Michigan “subsequently slowly descended” into the water after impact.
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