U-2 Pilot Took Selfie with Chinese Spy Balloon

Image: United States Office of Defense

The United States Office of Protection (DOD) has launched a one of a kind look at the Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the nation previously this month. Even though rumors of the photo had been circulating given that early February, the DOD just launched the picture to the press yesterday. Taken by a U-2 spy aircraft pilot who was tracking the balloon, the cockpit selfie shows just how huge it was.

The image was taken about a week right after the Chinese balloon entered U.S. airspace, creating alarm. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) then despatched U-2 jets to determine and monitor the uncommon device. According to the Air Drive, the U-2 “provides superior-altitude, all-weather conditions surveillance and reconnaissance, working day or evening, in immediate help of U.S. and allied forces.”

U-2 planes stored an eye on the balloon as it bobbed across the country. It was then shot down by an F-22 Raptor fighter jet off the coast of North Carolina following it achieved the Atlantic Ocean. Even though some have been critical of the conclusion to wait around to shoot down the balloon, the Pentagon claimed this was needed given its large dimension and the threat of slipping particles causing injury.

The recovery of the particles concluded on February 17 and parts have now been sent to the FBI for investigation. When the Chinese federal government has consistently declared that the incident was a misunderstanding brought on by a civilian weather balloon long gone astray, the Biden administration strongly disagrees. They have called it “part of a bigger Chinese surveillance-balloon plan.”

The U.S. Department of Defense recently released a selfie demonstrating a check out of the Chinese spy balloon from a U-2 spy aircraft.

A U-2 Dragon Woman traveling around the airfield at Beale Air Power Base, California, April 12, 2018. (Photograph: U.S. Air Force/ Team. Sgt. Ramon A. Adelan)

h/t: [CNN]

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