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The United States has completed the recovery of the remains of a huge downed balloon off the coast of South Carolina and the analysis so far of the debris confirms that it was a Chinese artifact espionage, US officials reported on Friday.
Navy, Coast Guard and FBI personnel have collected all the debris from the balloon from the bottom of the sea. These include pieces that could reveal the kind of information it could monitor and collect.
Northern Command said in a statement that recovery operations ended Thursday and all pieces are on their way to the FBI lab in Virginia for further analysis. Maritime restrictions in the area have been lifted, he added.
The announcement capped three dramatic weeks in which US warplanes shot down four aerial objects: The Great Chinese Globe and three smaller objects over Canada, Alaska, and Lake Huron, on the Canadian border. This is the first time to our knowledge that unauthorized objects have been shot down in US airspace in peacetime.
Officials said the search for the small downed aerial object over Lake Huron has concluded with nothing recovered. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they involved military operations.
The United States and Canada have also been unable to recover debris from two other objects shot down over the Yukon and northern Alaska.
Although the military command is certain that the balloon downed off South Carolina was a Chinese-operated surveillance aircraft, the Joe Biden administration has acknowledged that three smaller objects were likely civilian balloons attacked during the heightened response, after national defense radars were recalibrated to detect slower-moving aircraft.
Due to their small dimensions and the remote areas where they were shot down, the authorities acknowledge that the recovery of their remains is difficult, even unlikely, but those searches have not been suspended.
Much of the Chinese balloon fell into 15-meter-deep water and the Navy was able to pick up debris floating on the surface. Meanwhile, divers and unmanned submarines scooped up the rest of the bottom. The Northern Command said Friday that all Navy and Coast Guard ships have left the area.
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