CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins82% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 82%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 3 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better3.7 years ago
Air & Space Forces Magazine reports that "at 2:39 pm Eastern time, an F-22 Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. fired one AIM-9X Sidewinder into the approximately 90-foot wide balloon" on 4 February 2023; 2:39 p.m. EST is 19:39Z.[1]A single AIM-9X fired from 58,000 feet brought down a 90-foot Chinese balloon off Myrtle Beach on 4 February 2023, after it had drifted across the continental United States for a week. It was the F-22's first air-to-air kill, and it cost Antony Blinken his trip to Beijing.