The Pentagon released a photo taken from the cockpit of a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane on Feb. 3 of the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down earlier this month.
Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh confirmed the photo's authenticity during Wednesday’s press briefing. The balloon in the photo was the first spy balloon that floated across the United States for multiple days before being shot down. Since it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, the U.S. has shot down three other unidentified flying objects.
US CONCLUDES OPERATION TO RECOVER DOWNED CHINESE SPY BALLOON
The image appears to have been taken at a close distance, with the shadow of the plane displayed on the balloon. The U-2 is one of the few aircraft with the capability to fly above the reported height of the balloon, which was estimated at around 60,000 feet.
Singh also confirmed that “the majority of the balloon, including the payload was recovered” in subsequent salvaging operations.
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The operation to recover the first downed Chinese spy balloon was concluded on Friday. Recovering the three other downed objects will be much more difficult, officials noted, as they were shot down in much more remote territory: off the coast of Alaska near the Arctic Circle, in the Canadian Rockies in the Yukon region, and over Lake Huron.