US military fighter jets shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Saturday. The operation ended a remarkable public drama that prompted a diplomatic fallout between Washington and Beijing, as the American public tracked the balloon from Montana all the way to the Carolinas. President Joe Biden approved the downing of the balloon, Austin said in a statement, which a US official previously told CNN was a plan that was presented and supported by US military leaders. Recovery efforts began shortly after the balloon was downed, the same official added.
China's foreign ministry later expressed "strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US's use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft". Footage on US TV networks showed the balloon falling to the sea after a small explosion. An F-22 jet fighter engaged the high-altitude balloon with one missile - an AIM-9X Sidewinder - and it went down about six nautical miles off the US coast at 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT), a defence official told reporters. Defence officials told US media the debris landed in 47ft (14m) of water - shallower than they had expected - near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The military is now trying to recover debris which is spread over seven miles (11km). Two naval ships, including one with a heavy crane for recovery, are in the area.US President Joe Biden had been under pressure to shoot the balloon down since defence officials first announced they were tracking it on Thursday. After the balloon was shot down, Mr Biden said: "They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it." After the balloon was shot down, Mr Biden said: "They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it."The discovery of the balloon set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately calling off this weekend's trip to China over the "irresponsible act". The Chinese authorities have denied it is a spying aircraft, and instead said it was a weather ship blown astray.