Military Finishes Recovering Chinese Balloon Debris
February 17, 2023 9:25AM PST
A high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. The U.S. is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over U.S. airspace for a couple days, but the Pentagon decided not to shoot it down due to risks of harm for people on the ground, officials said Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. The Pentagon would not confirm that the balloon in the photo was the surveillance balloon. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say the military has finished efforts to recover the remnants of the large balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, and analysis of the debris so far reinforces conclusions that it was a Chinese spy balloon.
Officials say the U.S. believes that Navy, Coast Guard and FBI personnel collected all of the balloon debris off the ocean floor.
This includes key equipment from the payload that could reveal what information it was able to monitor and collect.
U.S. Northern Command says the recovery operations ended Thursday and that final pieces are on their way to the FBI lab in Virginia for analysis.
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