Watch: First Close Video of US Jets Downing Chinese Surveillance Balloon Surfaces

The United States shot down the Chinese spy balloon last week which led to tension between the United States and China. While some videos shot from the ground were shared widely on social media, now a video has surfaced on Twitter which is shot by one of the fighter jets. The video shows a conversation between the US Air Force pilots just before they shot down the balloon. At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US military shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, some six miles away from the US shores in South Carolina, with no damage to the life and properties of Americans.

After shooting down the Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina, the US had launched a mission to recover all the equipment from the debris while China expressed its strong dissatisfaction towards America's use of force against its civilian unmanned airship and warned of repercussions.

Pentagon has said that there have been four previous instances of Chinese surveillance balloons flying over US territories. The US military is continuing with its operation to recover the balloon and its payload shot down by fighter jets. The balloon was shot down on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean. It had hovered over continental America for several days after entering the US airspace on January 30 in Montana.

Watch: .@usairforce #F22 Raptor jet fighter downed #ChineseSpyBallon with a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile off the coast of South Carolina within U.S. territorial waters. The jet fighter was flying at 58,000 feet, below the balloon, which had been flying as high as 65,000 feet. pic.twitter.com/fQS8B7R3V0 — Parthiban Shanmugam (@hollywoodcurry) February 8, 2023

China has acknowledged that the balloon was theirs but denied that it was for surveillance purposes rather for weather monitoring and that it had drifted off course. Department of Defense Spokesperson Gen Pat Ryder told reporters that the operation to recover the debris is being carried out by the US Northern Command.

"Sea states Tuesday permitted divers and explosives ordnance technicians to conduct underwater salvage and recovery, and underwater survey activities continue using unmanned underwater vehicles," he said.

USS Carter Hall remains in the vicinity of the debris field and is leading the recovery efforts. US Coast Guard cutters continue to provide security, and the FBI and NCIS agents continue their work cataloguing debris and transporting it for further processing, Ryder added. (With PTI inputs)