Chinese balloon shot down: the incident of the mysterious aircraft questions Beijing's intentions

Correspondent in New York

A commotion at the underground headquarters of the North American air defense, a whirlwind takeoff of fighter planes equipped with air-to-air missiles: Joe Biden's America treated the intrusion of the Chinese stratospheric balloon as a real provocation Beijing and dealt with the incident in a strong, albeit belated, manner.

It will have been necessary for the aircraft, crossing or "

", depending on the version, at around 19,000 meters above sea level, to cross the entire continent before emerging above the Atlantic coast for the order to be given to shoot it down. .

At 2:39 p.m. Saturday, an F-22 Raptor from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, intercepted the balloon off Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and shot it down with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.

Read alsoA Chinese spy balloon flies over the United States, Beijing says it had “meteorological” objectives

Officially, only one priority animated Washington: to kill the intruder without running the shadow of a risk with the fallout of debris on the mainland, and the civilians who are there.

Politically, the choice is certain…

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