U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 get ready product recovered in the Atlantic Ocean from a superior-altitude Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S. Air Pressure off the coast of South Carolina for transport from a ship docked at Virginia Seaside, Virginia to federal brokers at Joint Expeditionary Base Very little Creek on February 10, 2023 in this graphic introduced by the U.S. Navy in Washington, February 13, 2023.
Petty Officer 1st Class Kris Lindstrom | U.S. Navy | Handout via Reuters
The U.S. navy claimed on Friday it had effectively concluded recovery initiatives off South Carolina for a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by a U.S. fighter jet, and the past of the particles was currently being shipped to a laboratory for evaluation.
“Remaining pieces of particles are getting transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation, as has transpired with the preceding surface and subsurface particles recovered,” the U.S. Northern Command said in a assertion.
Recovery operations concluded on Thursday and Navy and Coast Guard vessels have left the location and security perimeters all around the internet site have been lifted, the statement reported.
The U.S. armed forces reported previously this week it had recovered all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces recognized as well as significant sections of the balloon’s composition.
The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a govt spy vessel, expended a week flying in excess of the United States and Canada right before remaining shot down off the Atlantic coastline on orders from President Joe Biden. The episode has strained ties between Washington and Beijing, leading America’s major diplomat to postpone a trip to China.