Chinese spy balloon recovery operation concludes

This is how Chinese spy balloons are made 4:30

(CNN) --

Recovery operations have been completed for the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month, the US military said in a statement Friday.

The recovery effort ended after "Navy assets assigned to US Northern Command successfully located and recovered the debris" from the balloon, according to the US Northern Command statement.

“The final pieces of the debris will go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation, as has happened with previous surface and underground debris recovered.

US Navy and US Coast Guard vessels have left the area.

The air and maritime security perimeters have been lifted,” the statement added.

US officials are less optimistic about the recovery of debris from the three objects shot down over North America last weekend.

This is the moment American pilots shoot down a Chinese balloon 0:59

White House National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby said Friday that the United States and Canada may not be able to examine the three unidentified objects.

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"We'd love nothing more, but I can't sit here and promise you that we'll get to that level of fidelity to detail," Kirby said at a White House news conference.

He pointed to “extremely bad winter weather” in northern Alaska and “arctic conditions” that make recovery efforts extremely difficult.

He also said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been unable to find the downed object in the Yukon Territory and that Canadians have decided not to search for the object that fell into Lake Huron, while the United States has not yet determined if it will.

So in pretty tough conditions, it's going to be very hard to find, let alone once you find that debris, you'll be able to do the forensics to identify it.

So I can't promise you that we'll know for sure one way or the other,” he added.

• Biden Says Objects Downed Over North America Appear Not to Be Part of China's Spy Balloon Operation

US officials have said the Chinese balloon had a payload, or the equipment it was carrying, the size of about three buses and was capable of collecting intelligence signals and taking pictures.

The balloon traveled over sensitive sites in Montana, officials said, but the administration said it went the way of the balloon and worked to minimize its intelligence-gathering capabilities.

See how the alleged Chinese spy balloon looks up close 0:50

The United States has said the balloon is part of a large fleet controlled by the Chinese military that has carried out surveillance in at least 40 countries on five continents in recent years.

CNN reported this week that the US intelligence community is examining the possibility that the balloon, which took off from Hainan, China, in January, was not intended to travel over the mainland US, but instead was diverted from their way by strong winds.

The balloon's original surveillance target was likely Guam, but weather may have pushed the balloon north, authorities said.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that he looks forward to speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the balloon, but will not apologize for shooting it down.

"I hope we get to the bottom of this, but I don't apologize for bringing down that balloon," he said.

After the Chinese balloon was shot down, the US military shot down three subsequent objects that were much smaller and are now believed not to be linked to any country's surveillance program, Biden said.

Instead, they were likely used for meteorological or research purposes by private entities.

The United States will develop parameters to move forward on how to handle unidentified objects in US airspace that could pose a risk to civil aircraft, Biden said.

CNN's Sam Fossum contributed reporting.