- Max Matza
- BBC News
US Navy divers helped recover the wreckage of the airship from the Atlantic Ocean
The US military said it had recovered from the Atlantic Ocean the sensors of a Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the United States earlier this month.
US Northern Command said search teams recovered “a significant amount of debris from the site, including all identified priority sensors and electronic components.”
The FBI is examining items the United States says were used to spy on sensitive military sites.
The United States has dropped three more objects since the first balloon was shot down on February 4.
Military officials said “large parts of the hull” were found off the coast of South Carolina on Monday.
According to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, between 30 and 40 feet (9-12 metres) of the balloon’s antenna were among the items found.
US officials said the high-altitude balloon was made in China and was used for surveillance, but China said it was just a weather balloon that had lost its way.
Since that first incident, US fighter jets have shot down three more high-altitude objects in the span of several days — over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon Territory, and Lake Huron on the US-Canada border.
image copyright US Navy
Parts of the wreckage of the airship
According to US media, quoting military sources, that the first Sidewinder missile fired by a US F-16 warplane missed its target and exploded in an unknown location over Lake Huron. The second missile hit the target, according to the reports.
Each Sidewinder missile costs more than $400,000 (£330,000).
Officials said the UFOs are slow moving, smaller than the first airship, and may be difficult for military pilots to target.
White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the other three objects were shot down “out of an abundance of caution.”
He said that these objects did not pose “any direct threat to people on the ground,” but they were destroyed “to protect our security, interests, and aviation safety.”
Officials described the balloon, which was shot down over South Carolina, as being the size of three buses.
The second object, which was over Alaska, was described by officials as the size of a “small car.” The third object, above the Yukon, was “cylindrical”. The fourth body, above Michigan, was said to be “octagonal” and to have chains attached.
A memo issued by the Pentagon later stated to US media that the UFO that was shot down over the Yukon appeared to be “a small metal blimp with payload strapped to it”.
Defense Department officials also wrote in the memo that the object dropped in Michigan “then slowly descended” into the water following impact.
The recovery of the balloon, which was shot down on February 4, was postponed due to bad weather.
Efforts are under way to collect debris from places where other objects have fallen from the sky.
The Canadian Federal Police force said Monday that the search area in the Yukon Territory is regarding 3,000 square kilometers (1,870 square miles), including “rugged mountainous terrain with a very high level of snow.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Sean McGillis said there is a possibility that the fragments from the Yukon and Lake Huron accidents may never be found due to the remote locations where they landed.
Paul Prevost, a Major General in the Canadian Armed Forces, said the last three objects shot down appeared to be “lighter-than-air” machines, and described the object over Lake Huron as a “suspected balloon”.
The military commander added that anyone who finds parts of the wreckage should contact the police directly.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told US media on Monday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, later this week during a security conference in Munich, Germany.
Amid the row over high-flying aircraft, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled a visit to Beijing that was initially scheduled for last week.