Blown by the wind? The balloon, which was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, was supposed to be spying on US military installations in the Pacific, according to Washington. The wind must have blown it off course. President Biden considers the Chinese origin of the recently shot down flying objects to be unlikely.
New York/Washington, DC The mystery surrounding the Chinese balloon shot down in the Atlantic by US fighter pilots on Feb. 4 is slowly unraveling: officials familiar with the matter say the balloon was likely originally intended for a spy mission in the Pacific – before it went down. lo of yours would have veered off course. The object – about the size of a regional airliner and traveling in the mid-stratosphere – drifted towards Alaska before flying south via Canada over the United States. Air Force pilots then shot the object down off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the southern United States.
Specifically, the balloon was to fly over US military installations in Guam and Hawaii, he said. The Washington Post had previously reported that US military and intelligence officials had been tracking the balloon since it was launched – it took place in Hainan, on the south coast of China.