China is mad at the US for blasting its suspected spy balloon, but a few years ago, state TV bragged its fighter pilots could shoot one down

• A 2020 Chinese language state TV clip confirmed off how fighter pilots may shoot down surveillance balloons.

• The video exhibits a pilot monitoring and capturing a balloon throughout an obvious coaching train.

• China mentioned Monday that the US capturing down a suspected Chinese language spy balloon was “unacceptable.”

China is upset that the US shot down its balloon — a suspected surveillance asset — on Saturday, however a state TV video clip from 2020 contains a phase boasting about how Chinese language fighter pilots can find and shoot down spy balloons.

The video from China Central Tv (CCTV), translated by Insider, follows an obvious coaching train involving surveillance balloons.

Within the video, an alarm bell prompts a fighter pilot to arrange and board a fighter jet that seems to be the Chinese language J-10, a multi-role plane constructed for air-to-air fight and strike missions.

A CCTV narrator described the motion, saying that loading missiles, powering up, checking the fuselage, and different procedures had been all accomplished shortly.

Because the jets take off, command provides the pilot a mission, explaining that 60 kilometers out at a heading of 220 levels, an unidentified aerial state of affairs has been found. The pilot is ordered to “conduct identification and verification.”

Within the video, the pilot shortly locates the thing and displays it.

The CCTV narrator recognized the thing first as a white sphere-shaped object. Nearer commentary discovered it to be an unmanned balloon. “The supervising command group judged that it was presumably an excellent high-altitude surveillance balloon that threatened air protection safety,” the narrator says.

A pilot is then ordered to shoot it down with a missile.

The CCTV documentary mentioned “the white balloon exploded with the launch of a missile from the fighter jet’s left wing,” including that it solely took about 30 seconds for the pilot to lock onto after which destroy the goal.

The phase concludes with a shot of balloon particles scattered in a forest. It additionally options different pictures of Chinese language fighter jets and interviews with navy personnel and pilots.

Story continues

China’s international ministry mentioned Monday that it was “unacceptable and irresponsible” for the US to shoot down its suspected high-altitude surveillance balloon over the weekend, calling it an overreaction. A US Air Power F-22 fighter, a fifth-generation stealth jet, fired a single air-to-air missile to down the system, which plummeted from over 60,000 ft into the Atlantic Ocean.

Photographs revealed by the US Navy on Tuesday captured the second sailors pulled particles from the balloon — which a prime US commander mentioned was about 200 ft tall — out of waters close to South Carolina.

The balloon was first noticed crossing the sky over the US final week, however the Biden administration waited to down it till it might be achieved with out risking the lives of these beneath. The potential particles, which may embody not simply balloon elements but additionally weaponry used to shoot it down, may trigger accidents and even deaths. A second balloon, which China admitted it owns, was additionally noticed over Latin America final week.

China mentioned each balloons had been “of civilian nature and used for flight check.” Pentagon officers, nonetheless have denied these claims, asserting that each balloons are probably surveillance gadgets.

Ryan Pickrell contributed to this report.

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