Red Zeppelin recovered: Pentagon releases pictures of Navy pulling wreckage of Chinese spy balloon from Atlantic Ocean as Beijing warns Biden it will resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights’ after F-22 shot down ‘unmanned airship’
- The US has released photos showing the retrieval of the suspected spy balloon
- The effort, currently transpiring off the coast of South Carolina, has taken days
- Beijing insists the unconfirmed craft was deployed for ‘meteorological purposes’
The Pentagon has released photos showing the Navy’s retrieval of a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission, currently transpiring off the coast of South Carolina, has taken days, and comes as relations between Beijing and Washington have rapidly deteriorated after the shooting down of the high-altitude aircraft on Saturday.
Defense officials confirmed earlier in the week that an amphibious warship, as well as several divers and underwater robots, had been deployed to survey a specific ‘square mile’ of ocean where the remains of the balloon were thought to be located.
Photos released Tuesday morning show the fruits of those efforts, with sailors assigned to Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group seen pulling out the wreckage from the open ocean.
Beijing, meanwhile, insists the unconfirmed craft was deployed for ‘meteorological purposes’, and has spoken out vehemently against its destruction.
The Pentagon has released photos showing the Navy’s retrieval of a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the Atlantic Ocean
The spy balloon is seen drifting above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, on Saturday – with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it
The US Fleet Forces shared the sensational retrieval photos to social media just after 10am, as citizens continue to voice concerns over the suspected spy craft sighting.
Adding insult to injury, the Pentagon on Saturday confirmed that a second Chinese ‘surveillance balloon’ was spotted flying over Latin America. That craft, spotted near the Colombian port city of Cartagena, is being investigated.
Over the weekend, as Chinese officials continued to attest to their innocence, officials released images of the F-22 Raptor jet aircraft that brought down the unmanned balloon.
Republican leaders are now demanding both Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris resign over the latest incident.
Photos released Tuesday morning sailors assigned to Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group seen pulling out the wreckage of the unconfirmed spy craft from the open ocean
David Stillwell, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the Trump administration, told DailyMail.com the balloon was likely form of mind game by Beijing ahead of the meeting between Sec. Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘This demonstrates a common tactic by Beijing to test others before important meetings.’
He noted that in 2007 the Chinese shot an anti-satellite weapon before then-Defense Sec. Robert Gates arrived in the nation. The U.S. didn’t cancel, but ‘should have,’ Stillwell said.
The retrieval operation comes shortly after officials released images of the F-22 Raptor jet aircraft that brought down the unmanned balloon on Saturday
Chinese state media has accused the US of using the recent incident involving a suspected Chinese spy balloon as a political ploy to enflame tensions between Washington and Beijing
‘Beijing loves playing in the gray area. Is this a surveillance operation? Is it a weather balloon? The fact is, it doesn’t matter,’ Stillwell said.
The spy balloon sightings are currently being probed by the Justice Department.
