The U.S. military has revealed that a Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday was possibly carrying explosives, potentially for the purpose of self-destruction.
This information was shared by U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, during a press conference on Monday.
VanHerck also revealed that the balloon was 200 feet tall, had a payload the size of a jetliner, and weighed thousands of pounds.
He is under the belief that the Chinese balloon had the power “to detonate and destroy the balloon.”
Biden knew the surveillance balloon was over the U.S., yet he chose not to shoot it down and instead allowed it to float over nuclear silos and military installations.
The Pentagon finally shot down the spy balloon at approximately 2:40 pm ET Saturday, just off the coast of the Carolinas, presumably after it had already collected the data it was seeking.
The Daily Mail reported:
The Chinese spy balloon was 200-feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds and its payload was the size of a jetliner, a top Pentagon official said Monday.
Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, divulged new details about the downed balloon on a call with reporters Monday.
His description followed a briefing by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who defended President Joe Biden’s decision to wait and shoot down the Chinese craft until it was over South Carolina’s coastline on Saturday.
‘Because the president decided they wouldn’t shoot it down until he could do so safely, and that meant over water, that afforded us a terrific opportunity to gain a better understanding, to study the capabilities of this balloon,’ he told reporters on a call.
