https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/f-22-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-carolinas-with-missile
An F-22 Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base fired a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile that downed the balloon from an altitude of 58,000 feet. The balloon was as high as 65,000 feet.
The shootdown occurred at the first available opportunity to do so without threat to those on the ground.
The U.S. took steps to stop and mitigate the balloon's collection, neutralizing its intelligence value and preventing it from sending data back to China as it passed over sensitive sites.
There were three previously undisclosed intrusions by Chinese surveillance into U.S. airspace, but never of this duration. Two of these incursions came during the President Donald Trump administration, with the third early in the Biden administration. The Chinese explanation for this balloon's flight lacked credibility.
The balloon entered the Alaska Joint Operation Area on January 27, Canadian airspace on January 30, and the continental U.S. over northern Idaho on January 31.
This is not the only surveillance balloon operating in the western hemisphere, with another operating over south and Central America as part of a fleet at the People's Liberation Army's direction across five continents.
What was an air operation to shoot the balloon down is now a recovery operation in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the debris' chain of custody.
Debris from the balloon fell in only 47 feet of water, much shallower than expected. There are multiple Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the area but no timeline for recovery from a debris field spanning seven mile