US shoots down Chinese 'spy ballon' over Atlantic Ocean

The US military has downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean and launched a mission to recover all the equipment from its debris, drawing a strong reaction from China which on Sunday warned of repercussions over America's use of force against its civilian unmanned airship.

PTI

At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US military at 2.39 pm EST on Friday shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean.

PTI

China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. China expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition towards the US use of force to attack China's civilian unmanned airship.

Meanwhile, the US said that by shooting down the balloon, it addressed the surveillance threat posed to military installations and further neutralise any intelligence value it could have produced, preventing it from returning to China.