On February 4, the US government shot down a Chinese spy balloon above Surfside beach, South Carolina. The balloon had been watched by US officials since January of 2022 above the Aleutian Islands. The balloon ended up over Alaska and Canada before ending up in Idaho where Biden contacted the Pentagon to report of the concern. It was then decided to take down the balloon with the promise that no civilians would be harmed. Before the balloon was shot down, US officials made sure to protect against the collection of any sensitive information.

The spy balloon was shot down by the F-22 Raptor fighter jet with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. The balloon ended up falling about six miles from the coast of Surfside Beach in 47 feet deep water. While this balloon did not pose a serious threat to the US, but its advances into the United States is a violation of US sovereignty.

The Chinese government excepts responsibility for this balloon but have claimed that the balloon is a weather balloon that went off course. However, according to the US, this balloon was sent into United States territory on purpose to collect information from sensitive military sites. When the balloon had made a landing, the US navy and Coast guard were sent to secure a perimeter around the area and collect any debris that the balloon may have left. According to these forces, the recovery from the landing should be easy to take care of due to how shallow the water was where it landed.

Tyler Bryant from Hidden Valley said, “No I don’t think the United States overreacted. We took defensive action when we were threatened.”