The surveillance craft was taken down roughly six miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Multiple clips purporting to show the destruction of the Chinese spy balloon have surfaced on social media, with some garnering millions of views in a matter of hours.
The strange craft was first spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, eventually being identified as a surveillance balloon owned by China. Despite initial outcry over its presence in U.S. airspace, the Pentagon and the White House declined to shoot it down immediately due to the potential threat of debris falling from the sky.
On Saturday afternoon, however, reports emerged that President Joe Biden was working on a plan to down the balloon once it was over water. These plans were seemingly confirmed, as the Associated Press confirmed that the craft had been taken down by an F-22 fighter jet around 2:40 p.m. ET, six nautical miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
