How US prepped before shooting down suspected Chinese spy balloon

The US President said that the Pentagon decided that the best time to shoot down the Chinese balloon was when it got over water, within a 12-mile limit.

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The United States today shot down a Chinese balloon, it suspected was being used for surveillance, off the East Coast of South Carolina.

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The US had decided against shooting down a Chinese balloon over Montana earlier this week as it feared damage to people on the ground.

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Biden said that it was his decision to take down the balloon, whereas his national security team told him to wait for the safest place.

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One F-22 fighter plane from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia fired the shot at 2:39 p.m. (1939 GMT) with a lone AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking air-to-air missile, according to a senior U.S. military official

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US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully shot down the high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to China over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace

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"The balloon, which was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States, was brought down above US territorial waters."

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