Off the coast of South Carolina. On the orders of the US president, an F-22 Raptor shoots down a giant balloon carrying Chinese equipment with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. The balloon had been under surveillance for several days, having been flying over US territory from the West. It had passed over several military installations with ballistic missiles. China officially expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the handling of the incident. The United States considers the balloon and its cargo to be a spy plane, even though it is not considered a threat to national security. Secretary of State Blinken’s official trip to China, his first in several years, is postponed. In the following days, other flying objects will be shot down by several F-22s over Alaska on February 10, Northern Canada on February 11, and Lake Huron on February 13.
