The Pentagon specified that the flight of the aircraft responded to an attempt by China to monitor strategic facilities on the continental territory of the North American country.
This Sunday, the audio from the cockpit of one of the two American fighters that participated in the shooting down of the Chinese hot air balloon, supposedly a spy, off the east coast of the United States was released.
“The balloon is completely destroyed,” the pilot of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet reported after knocking down the aircraft with an AIM-9X missile and establishing a “safe area” around the remains of the flying object in order to recover them. .
The secretary of the US Department of Defense, Lloyd Austin, previously specified that the flight of the aircraft responded to an attempt by China to monitor strategic facilities in the continental territory of the North American country.
The head of the Pentagon explained that President Joe Biden gave the go-ahead to shoot down the aircraft on the same Wednesday, the day it was reported, although only when “the operation could be carried out without putting the lives of citizens at unnecessary risk Americans under the trajectory of the balloon”. He also affirmed that the demolition took place “in a safe way” on territorial waters “in full support and coordination” with the Government of Canada.
For his part, the White House tenant confirmed that he ordered the balloon to be destroyed as soon as possible. “On Wednesday, when I was informed of the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible. They decided that the best moment to do it was when I was on the waterwithin a limit of 12 miles (19.3 kilometers),” Biden said in statements to reporters in the city of Hagerstow, in the state of Maryland.
Chinese reaction
Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement this Sunday expressing its “strong dissatisfaction and protest” over the shooting down of its hot air balloon, reiterating that it was not a spy aircraft, as Washington maintains.
“China has repeatedly informed the US side that the aircraft is civil in nature and entered the US due to force majeure, which was a purely accidental situation. China has clearly asked the US side to handle the matter properly, calmly, professionally and restraint,” they stressed from the Foreign Ministry.
Source: RT
