The US has finally destroyed China's spy balloon a week after it entered US air space.

 

The Chinese spy balloon was discovered in Montana. The Billings Gazette/USA Today/AP.

The United States has finally destroyed a Chinese spy balloon that had entered US air space a week ago. USA Today. The balloon had surveilled much of the United States before it was destroyed over the Atlantic near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. An F-22 got the kill shot with an AIM 9X as the balloon was at an altitude of 65,000 feet. The debris fell in around 47 feet of water and will be recovered. The Pentagon cited fears of civilian casualties or damage from debris as why they did not shoot the balloon down immediately. The launch and destruction of the balloon could have diplomatic consequences. 

The Chinese Spy Ballon has been eliminated. Shot down by fighter jets off the Carolina coast. pic.twitter.com/FunhGnePxQ

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 4, 2023

 

Audio from FRANK01 (Langley AFB F-22) calling, “SPASH ONE”confirming to “HUNTRESS” (Eastern Air Defense Sector “EADS”) that the #ChineseSpyBallon is completely destroyed off the coast of South Carolina today 😎
*Big thanks to 📷Brett728 for sharing pics and 🕵️‍♀️ for the audio! pic.twitter.com/8tfZeyeNAy

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) February 5, 2023

 

🚨#BREAKING: Incredible HD footage of the Chinese surveillance balloon being shot down

🚨#MyrtleBeach l #SC

Watch incredible HD video of the moment when the Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by a single missile from an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base pic.twitter.com/KjwTrgcvcb

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 4, 2023

My Comment:

Better late then never I guess? The balloon had already accomplished its mission by this point so shooting it down did not accomplish much of anything. By the time it was over the Atlantic Ocean it was already too late. 

Still, it is proof that America does have the technology to shoot down a high altitude balloon. I know I was questioning it myself, given the extreme altitude and general incompetence of the modern US military. The F-22 that got the kill was likely operating at the edge of it's flight capabilities.  

Speaking of the F-22, this will go down as the first combat kill for the fighter jet. The F-22 has been used in combat before but never in its intended air-to-air role. Shooting down a balloon was probably not what the designers had in mind for the jet, but at least it accomplished something. The F-22 is not the first fifth generation fighter jet to get an air-to-air kill though, that honor belongs to the Russian SU-57, which shot down an aircraft in the Ukrainian War. 

Shooting down the balloon will do little to ease the anger people felt over the Chinese spy balloon. There was a lot of absolute incredulity that the balloon was allowed to even enter American air space, let alone fly over most of the United States. Most people appear to be utterly baffled by the decision to wait this long to do so. Indeed, I think it caused quite a bit of panic, especially with the ultimately false reports of an explosion in Billings Montana yesterday. 

I don't buy the Pentagon's excuse that they were worried about civilian casualties and destruction caused by falling debris. For one, if they had shot it down over the Aleutian Islands, when the balloon was first detected in US air space it would have been a moot point. But once the discovery went public there was no reason not to shoot it down over Montana. It's not like Montana is a crowded, heavily populated state and you can't tell me that they couldn't have figured out an area between Montana and South Carolina that was remote enough that this wouldn't be a concern. Besides, it looks like the missile pretty much destroyed the payload of the balloon regardless. 

My guess is that if the balloon hadn't been discovered publicly it would have been allowed to continue on its mission. The Biden administration was apparently ok with this balloon traveling across the United States and did not seem to be interested in doing anything about it until they gave into public pressure.  

America certainly lost a lot of face here. There was a time where there would be no question if an aircraft violation like this would have resulted in a shoot down. But that is apparently not the case anymore. China had a huge propaganda victory here and the Biden administration looked like they were caught sleeping. 

The whole incident will be a fairly major diplomatic incident between China and the United States. Already a diplomatic meeting between China and the United States has been postponed. China, for its part, continues to insist that this was a civilian balloon and is vowing consequences for shooting it down. I doubt that these consequences will be anything serious, but it is something to keep an eye on.