The United States military reportedly conducted a military campaign in which it shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on 4th February 2023. 

The Officials said that the U.S. Navy is planning to collect the debris from the shot balloon, which is in shallow water. As per the data from the officials from U.S. and Canada, the balloon tracked as it crossed the Aleutian Islands, passed over Western Canada, and entered U.S. airspace over Idaho. 

On 2nd February, officials from the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that the military has been tracking the balloon as it flew over the continental U.S. at an altitude of about 60,000 feet, including over Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana which houses the 341st Missile Wing – operates nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

Furthermore, Pentagon officials confirmed that a second suspected Chinese balloon has been seen over Latin America. The balloons are part of a Chinese military surveillance program. Officials also suspected that a third Chinese military surveillance balloon is operating somewhere else in the world and that the balloons are part of a Chinese military surveillance program. 

Following the news, Chinese officials were asked to comment on the matter, they acknowledged that the balloon was theirs, however, they deny accepting that it was intended for spying. 

If you are wondering what and how a spy balloon works and how it looks like it is literally a gas-filled balloon like we see other normal balloons that are flying quite high in the sky, more or less where commercial airplanes fly. 

However, since it is a spy balloon it is designed with sophisticated cameras and imaging technology which collects information on targeted locations by collecting images. 

In addition to this, there is an internationally accepted boundary which is called Kármán Line at 62 miles (100km) altitude. The Chinese balloon was well below that, so definitely, it was in US airspace.