DefensePosted 09/21/202609/21/2026 at 8:06 pm@PoliticsDesk To timeline

An F-22 Shoots Down a Chinese Surveillance Balloon

Starts 02/04/2023 7:39PM

Policy05/11/2023@ThePinGang
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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]

Start: Feb 4, 202390% CONFIDENCEfrom the source

An F-22 Shoots Down a Chinese Surveillance Balloon

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.

At 2:39 p.m. Eastern on 4 February 2023 an F-22 Raptor of the 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, fired one AIM-9X Sidewinder into the balloon off the coast of South Carolina^[1]
The fighter shot from 58,000 feet at a balloon flying at 60,000 to 65,000 feet, roughly 90 feet across; F-15s from Barnes Air National Guard Base and several tankers supported the intercept. It was the first known air-to-air kill by an F-22^[1]
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US fighters "successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People's Republic of China", which "was being used by the PRC in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States"^[1]
The balloon entered the US air defence identification zone near the Aleutians on 28 January, crossed into Canadian airspace on 30 January and re-entered over northern Idaho on 31 January^[1]
F-22s were scrambled from Nellis on 1 February while the US considered shooting it down over Montana, near the Malmstrom ICBM field, but commanders judged that "downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area"^[1]
The Pentagon did not acknowledge the balloon until 2 February, after civilians had photographed it over Montana, which drew criticism from both parties in Congress^[1]
The incident cancelled Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China, scheduled for 3 February, which would have been the first cabinet-level US visit of the Biden administration^[1]
US Navy and Coast Guard units recovered the envelope and payload from the Atlantic over the following days^[2]

@PoliticsDesk

References 382% CONFIDENCE

The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.

[1]90%
airandspaceforces.com/chinese-surveillance-balloon-shot-down-f-22
airandspaceforces.com· Posted Sep 21, 2026· Starts Feb 4, 2023 ✓· 50% of score
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.
[2]75%
2023 Chinese balloon incident (Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 21, 2026· 50% of score
The recovery operation off South Carolina and the diplomatic exchange that followed.^[1]
[3]70%
Politicana: Ep. 116 - Nikki Haley Expected To Announce Presidential Run, Democrats Demand Removal Of Lincoln Statue, U.S. Shoots Down Chinese Surveillance Balloon, And More!
podcasts.apple.com· Published Feb 6, 2023· 0% of score
Politicana's episode "Ep. 116 - Nikki Haley Expected To Announce Presidential Run, Democrats Demand Removal Of Lincoln Statue, U.S. Shoots Down Chinese Surveillance Balloon, And More!" (2023-02-06) says: "racially insensitive image of President Abraham Lincoln freeing an enslaved man. 39:30 - U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been transiting across the country for several days. President Biden told reporters that he had"^[1]

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Policy05/11/2023@ThePinGang
Xi Jinping's 48-hour plan to invade Taiwan, 2027 is the date that he wants the Chinese army to be ‘ready’ to take back Taiwan
Starts 01/01/2027 UNVERIFIED 78% CONFIDENCEin 100 days
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