US considering plan to shoot down Chinese 'spy' balloon over Atlantic

Biden had been inclined to down the balloon over land when he was first briefed on it on Tuesday, but Pentagon officials advised against it.

Washington, Feb 4: The Biden administration is considering a plan to shoot down a Chinese balloon, size of three buses, suspected of conducting surveillance on US military, by bringing it down once it is above the Atlantic Ocean where the remnants could potentially be recovered, according to four US officials.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation, told news agency PTI that it was unclear whether a final decision had yet been made by President Joe Biden.

In a brief remark Saturday in response to a reporter's question about the balloon, Biden said: "We're going to take care of it."

The balloon was spotted Saturday morning over North Carolina as it neared the Atlantic coast.

The Pentagon had previously estimated that the balloon, flying at about 60,000 feet in the air, was about the size of three school buses and that any debris field would be substantial, as reported by PTI.

Biden had been inclined to down the balloon over land when he was first briefed on it on Tuesday, but Pentagon officials advised against it, warning that the potential risk to people on the ground outweighed the assessment of potential Chinese intelligence gains.

China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that the balloon's journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. not to "smear" it based on the balloon.

What are spy balloons:

Spy balloons are high-altitude balloons equipped with various types of surveillance technology. They were widely used by militaries in the late 19th and 20th century, including by the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

According to reports, the purpose of these spy high-altitude balloons is to gather intelligence and gather data from remote locations and often operate in remote or hostile environments.