The Pentagon has confirmed that a Chinese aircraft officials suspected was a surveillance ballon has been shot down above US territorial waters.
"This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People's Republic of China over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon's path," Austin said.
