Now We Know What Balloon The US Called As Chinese Spies Looks Like

Photo via U.S. Fleet Forces Twitter

JAKARTA - The United States Navy has finally released a photo of a balloon -- referred to as a Chinese spy that was successfully shot down on Saturday 4 February.

US Fleet Forces Command posted several photos on Facebook, saying sailors found a reconnaissance balloon off Myrtle Beach in South Carolina on Sunday.

The team that assisted in recovering the wreckage was part of the Naval Combat Forces ensuring there was no danger of an explosion and securing the underwater domain.

US officials said on Monday that the downed Chinese balloon would be analyzed by intelligence experts and there were no plans to return it to Beijing.

China says the balloon is a faulty weather observation plane with no military purpose, but the United States says it is a sophisticated spy vehicle.

📍ATLANTIC OCEAN - @USNavy Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. pic.twitter.com/QwjSFQEw1b

— U.S. Fleet Forces (@USFleetForces) February 7, 2023

"They have found some remnants from the ocean surface and weather conditions did not allow much underwater surveillance of the debris field," US National Safety Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, chief of US Northern Command, separately told reporters that a Navy ship was in the process of mapping the debris field, which is estimated to be about 1,500m by 1,500m.

The balloon itself is up to 60m high and carries a payload of several thousand pounds which is about the size of a regional jet, he said.