U-2s were able to fly above a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon and collected valuable imagery. One of the pilots took a selfie to prove it.
After days of worry that mysterious objects shot down while flying over North America over the past week might be Chinese spycraft or even alien airships, the U.S. intelligence community indicated Feb. 14 that they may be “totally benign” commercial or research balloons.
Recordings of radio transmissions, synced up with video, shed new light on how an F-22 shot down a Chinese spy balloon. Flight trackers and ordinary citizens were able to monitor radio frequencies and air-tracking services as the F-22 Raptor scored its first known air-to-air kill,