this is bbc news with the headlines. we start with breaking news. in the last few minutes, a us official has confirmed that the us military has shot down a suspected chinese "spy" balloon that had been flying over the us. our main sources our main sources are our main sources are reuters photographer. we've had some indication that the operation may be taking place a couple of hours ago. that was when the federal... in the last hour, the federal aviation administration stopped flights at three airports. earlier presidentjoe biden says the us was "going to take care of" the suspected surveillance balloon.

that is the east coast of the state, a few hours ago, they cleared that airport, grounded the planes, nothing coming in and nothing coming out. and the reason we now know was because they had a planned operation that balloon. let's remind you what this balloon looked like what we have been tracking for a few days. the white balloon... that's been... and then came down across the us. there have been attempts to shoot it

down, not done because of the risk of falling debris. also, this seems to not be a huge security risk to the us, given what the balloon was and the fact that chinese satellites could get information just as well is this balloon. decision was taken to wait till it got over to the sea, where the risk to people was much less. they shut the air space and we now know they have just shut it down, according to a reuters photographer at the scene. joining me now is our north america correspondent, david willis. hi, david. this is happening just before he came on air. what do we know? l115 before he came on air. what do we know? ,, .,' . ., , before he came on air. what do we know? ,, u, , before he came on air. what do we know? ,, . ., , ., know? us officials confirming what we know, know? us officials confirming what we know. what _ know? us officials confirming what we know, what we've _ know? us officials confirming what we know, what we've seen - know? us officials confirming what we know, what we've seen from i know? us officials confirming whatl we know, what we've seen from the pictures, that this has been shut down, this chinese balloon. it's making its way to the salty waters of the atlantic ocean as we speak.

they are, the challenge really comes into play. how to recover what is on board. crucially, the mechanics and machinery to work out what this device was actually doing. was it indeed a surveillance operation? or was it simply collecting meteorological data? the united states... from some on the right—wing of the republican party. in response to pressure from the military, who argued there was nothing to be gained, and it could have been dangerous to bring it down over us airspace. now, it is over the ocean. that danger has receded. but here's the problem, because the

waters there in the list atlantic ocean are about 650 feet deep. but they then sharply give way to the sharp ledge... on the surface goes down to about 6500 feet. so the challenge, having shot this down, is to be able to recover the mechanics on board. there are thought to be naval vessels in the area waiting to assist in that operation. it's a delicate one. no question about that because it has to be retrieved carefully. because it has to be retrieved carefull . . ,. . because it has to be retrieved carefully-— carefully. fascinating details, david. carefully. fascinating details, david- stay — carefully. fascinating details, david. stay there. _ carefully. fascinating details, david. stay there. let's - carefully. fascinating details, david. stay there. let's take | carefully. fascinating details, | david. stay there. let's take a carefully. fascinating details, - david. stay there. let's take a look at a bit of the geography. we know it was obviously a chinese balloon, and you can see the route they are in red.

if we can go to the flight tracking radar, we can bring this map up—to—date. that's the eastern seaboard there. north carolina and south carolina. three airports down, just there at the top where the yellow dots. that's where it was decided that the operation would take place. so, just a quick map. this balloon we've been following has been shut down. the united states authorities finally taking the decision that once the bloom was

overwater, it was safe in the right thing to do to shoot it down. you are watching bbc news. bye—bye. just pausing there and saying goodbye to our viewers watching around the world. thank you for staying with us if you're watching here in the uk. as i was saying, this breaking newsjust in here in the uk. as i was saying, this breaking news just in the last 20 minutes or so, that this surveillance balloon from china, or a meteorological gathering, there was a dispute between chinese authorities and the us authorities about what the purpose is in the level of sophistication of intention behind this balloon, but we do know it has been floating across the us land mass and got the coast, to the sea, they decided they would shut down the airspace around the coast.

that was to make it a safe area for them to operate. the us authorities decided to shoot the balloon down. i'm just being told that we have a tweet we should take a look at. this is the saa, has paused departure from an arrivals to wilmington. that came before it was shot down. that came before it was shot down. that was some idea of the operation that was about to happen. we knew something was happening, but we didn't know the exact details. it

didn't know the exact details. it didn't take long at all. interesting details from our correspondents. david, recapped what you're talking about. once the decision was taken, just remind us of what details you know. �* , ,., , . ., know. absolutely. the challenge in shootinu know. absolutely. the challenge in shooting this _ know. absolutely. the challenge in shooting this balloon _ know. absolutely. the challenge in shooting this balloon down is - know. absolutely. the challenge in shooting this balloon down is to . shooting this balloon down is to bring it down in such a way that you can recover the data that it collected. you need to recover that data at first before that craft sinks. 650 feet just off the coast of the carolinas, i'm told, but it then sharply gives way, plunges down to about 6500 feet. so, a clear challenge for american officials to get to that mechanism before it

sinks all the way to the bottom of the ocean. you're absolutely right, we have clear indication that this was about to take place when it was announced that they were closing the airspace. a massive closure of airspace, equivalent to the state of massachusetts. and there, they went about this operation, deployed to shoot this balloon down. to poke holes in it was the intention, basically to inflate it, so it then had some smooth distant into the atlantic ocean. we have to wait and see as to what sort of state it's in —— descent. see as to what sort of state it's in -- descent-— see as to what sort of state it's in -- descent. , ., ., ., -- descent. lets go into some of the politics. because _ -- descent. lets go into some of the politics, because the _ -- descent. lets go into some of the politics, because the reason - -- descent. lets go into some of the politics, because the reason so - -- descent. lets go into some of the| politics, because the reason so many people are so interested, i suppose

some of the ambiguities, so on the one hand, it's a chinese balloon, but not particularly sophisticated. could be much more is stressed in capturing data. —— more interested. then there wasn't a proper explanation or apology from the chinese side. the other side is this was something more sinister and deliberate from the chinese side, and therefore they had to be a proper significant response from the us. the fact that we have the ambiguities in between has led to this back and forth between china and the us. this back and forth between china and the us-_ this back and forth between china andtheus. , ., . and the us. absolutely, and crucial to all this was _ and the us. absolutely, and crucial to all this was the _ and the us. absolutely, and crucial to all this was the announcement l and the us. absolutely, and crucial| to all this was the announcement by the pentagon on friday that another such balloon had been located over latin america, southeast of venezuela. that basically affirms

the minds of a lot of people that something was going on here. this wasn'tjust a balloon that had been caught up in the wings and wafted in the wrong direction. we had renewed calls for some republicans, including the former president donald trump, for this thing to be taken out of the air immediately. there's already been some criticism in republican circles for what they see as a delay, but the biden administration did not want to imperil people. they could have potentially be hit by debris. nor did it want to overly antagonize the chinese needlessly. antony blinken announced he was calling off his visit to beijing, a visit that had been months in the planning. he was due to meet among others, the chinese president, xijinping, and i was called off the last minute.

americans are saying they have no plans to reschedule. until this balloon was taken care of. now it has been. i balloon was taken care of. now it has been. ., ., ., . ~ ., has been. i want to go back to the fliuht has been. i want to go back to the flight radar— has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. _ has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's - has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's all - has been. i want to go back to the flight radar website. joe's all the i flight radar website. joe's all the aeroplanes in the air around the world at any point. —— it shows all the aeroplanes. we want to get a sense of if that airspace is going to be reopened anytime soon. if we can try and head in and zoom in and find the area which is kind of clear, and i've got to be completely honest, my eyesight is not what to be. you can see... the faa did absolutely clear that airspace. you can still see there, given that

evidence from the flight radar, the airspace is still pretty empty. especially when you zoom out. normally there would be flights coming and going. the faa had shut down civilian flights within 100 square miles over the atlantic down civilian flights within100 square miles over the atlantic ocean and around the south carolina coast. it looks like that is still... us fighter aircraft brought down chinese surveillance over the coast of south carolina. us defence secretary has brought down... over the water off the coast of south carolina. let's show you the balloon

we're talking about. i'm sure you will have seen it over the last couple of days. it's kind of a white balloon and there's lots of debate about it nature. either way, the us is about to find out a lot more details about it because they took the decision to shoot it down, and the decision to shoot it down, and the process now of gathering it, examining it and seeing exactly what they can learn about what this chinese surveillance balloon was doing, was gathering and what threat level presented. the initial sense was that it was a threat to the security of the us, primarily because lots of countries have lots of satellites. they couldn't quite see the utility of a balloon. but

when they fished it out of the water, which is what they will be doing right now, those are exactly the kinds of questions that they will try to be getting answers to. we've been speaking to different experts and they're trying to get their assessment of what has been happening. we spoke to doctor thomas. dr thomas withington is an expert in electronic warfare, radar and military communications. he explains more about why it's so difficult to the balloon is, judging by all appearances, made of a soft, probably rubber or plastic—like material that makes, i would imagine, does make it very difficult to detect. and because it's difficult to detect, it's hard to effectively guide either a surface—to—air missile or a fighter onto it. both of those capabilities require radar in some shape or form, to be able to fix the target, follow it and then to be able to guide the aircraft or the missile in. dr withington also says the balloon could be there for multiple reasons

we have a statement from the pentagon in the us. this is from the secretary of defence, lloyd austin. it's quite long, but well worth reading. this is the first of visual —— first official detail. us fighter aircraft... want to to the people's republic of china. over the water off the coast of south carolina in us airspace. the balloon, brought down above us territorial waters. president biden gave his authorisation as soon as the mission

could be accomplished without risk to american lives under the balloon�*s path. us military commanders had determined downing the balloon posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and surveillance payment. in accordance with the president's direction, the department of defence developed options. will closely monitoring its path. this action was taken and in coordination with the full support of the canadian government, and we thank canada for his contribution to tracking and analysis through the balloon. today's deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that president biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the american

people first while responding effectively to the prc's unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. i did tell you it was a long statement. you were warned. but well worth reading in full. that is the first open and full and frank description of what just the first open and full and frank description of whatjust happened in the last half hour or so. there's a couple of really interesting details that sing out to me from that long statement. i was a statement from secretary of defence... we now know from this. the first was that that line that came out a couple days ago that it was not worth the risk, because of the undue risk to people, is the reason they waited and waited and waited for this spy balloon to cross. just in the last couple of

hours, it was over the carolinas, and that's when they took the decision to close the airspace and shut down the airspace, and then they carried out this mission. us fighter aircraft took down the balloon. the other interesting thing that sticks out is the threat that they perceive from the prc. the language they decided to use, "an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," is how they finished it and they said this national security team of president biden will always put the safety and security of the american people first while responding effectively to the prc's unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. that statement basically coming through for fleshing out some of the detail. now

we're going to get another message from the faa. myrtle beach international and charleston international and charleston international airports are resuming. other airspace has been reopened. so, that brings an end to the disruption for people in and around that area trying to get in and out. airspace not start for that long in the scheme of things. that means this operation was relatively slickly planned. this is when the balloon was no longer overland. they took that action pretty swiftly, and furthermore maintain —— mundane reasons, they will be very relieved

that there airspace is now back open and they will be able to come and go. we will eventually take a look at that flight radar website. it is really useful to give an overview of what is happening. when the airspace is a bit fuller, we'll take a look at those pictures. but these have been and extraordinary couple of days. we haven't known exactly what threat level and why and how it managed to steer off course if it was accidental or deliberately into areas where it was always going to be seen by the us. it can almost be seen by the naked eye. these questions about why and what the strategic thinking was behind china's move or whether it was a mistake. those kinds of questions,

we still don't have the answer to, but we have a significant event after days and days of drifting. we are now able to say it has been shut down. let's take a look at the area where it happened. we have one, the recovery operation, by the authorities there, who will have shot the balloon down and exactly where it is, and that race to get all the information and data that they need from them as quickly... and the operation is the more mundane one, getting lights up and running again. —— getting flights. this is the flight radar. it is a remarkable website and it basically says where the plane is in the air at any one time. you can zoom in and

really get a sense of air traffic anywhere, and you can see that dint of yellow dots, and when you zoom in, this is the eastern coast of the united states. basically, those airports, three of them, pretty bunched around north carolina and south carolina. it's where the aircraft were all closed. i'm being told we're getting some pictures. these are the first images that we're getting here into the bbc of the actual shooting down. i've got to be honest, if you're watching, i'm seeing these for the first time, so it's a lovely blue... this is happening quite... some of those

pictures not completely clear. we have a white balloon that we've seen drifting across the country. let's just take a pause and see what we can see. is that a white dot right at the bottom there? i think. that's probably what it is, but like i'm saying, these pictures are still coming into us. i am seeing them just as you are for the first time, so they're a little difficult to decipher. i'm going to get some of my producers who are working hard in the newsroom to collect these just to give me a bit of a heads up about where these pictures have come from. we'll work on that right now and

when they do come into my ear and tell me what those images exactly show and where they're from, we'll show and where they're from, we'll show them to you again. if we've got pictures of the balloon itself, i just want to reference some of the things about the significance of this whole event. when we get those pictures from the last couple of days, of the white balloon in the sky, this is the balloon we've been seeing. the point of controversy is this — is this a sophisticated surveillance operation that was deliberate by the chinese? or was this a neurological balloon collecting data about the weather there that veered off course? or was it some combination of both? the messages we've had out of china and

the us haven't completely helps us establish that. but those questions will continue. the remains of that balloon that is now shot down have been recovered. let's view these new pictures now. i'm told this is the suspected chinese spy balloon, as it was shot down, and i've got a couple more details. it's for allison at reuters, so some more details. when i saw them for the first time, you were seeing them as well. the details are that they're from the perspective of someone on holden beach in the us, if you know that

area. alice enjoys that reuters is getting the picture credit —— allisonjoyce. i getting the picture credit —— allison joyce. i think they are pretty brief. if we keep them up on the screen, we can try and establish any more details as we get them. let's go back to the statement from the pentagon. it looks like the white there towards the middle and a trail potentially as it fell from the sky into the sea. while still take a look at that, i want to go back to that statement from the pentagon, because it was surprisingly comprehensive in a way. after a couple of days of update. but growing frustration among many people in the us that this couldn't just be brought down. there's a really full explanation about why it

wasn't. it's effectively a risk assessment. they decided that the risk to human life on the ground, when it was flying over the land, was too high — partially because the height of the balloon flying at. i suppose that made it hard to predict how it will come down. the landing zone could be absolutely huge. which therefore increases the uncertainty and the risk. the second crucial factor from the pentagon seems to be that they weren't that worried about the security risk that it posed. so, if it had been a very high risk to national security in the us, they would have been prepared to shoot it down more quickly. given the fact

they were not realistically going to be able to predict with any great measure of certainty where it would land on the ground, because it is flying so high in the sky. commercialflights tend flying so high in the sky. commercial flights tend to fly at the site, so given the low risk, it's not worth it. clearly the plan was wait for it to be blown out to sea. they didn't wait too long because the moment it got close to the eastern coast of the united states, it was over the carolinas. they didn't need to shut the airspace very long, they told three airports to ground flights, and then us fighter aircraft were assigned. and they very quickly took down the

balloon that was launched by, i'm quoting, belonging to the people's republic of china. just to bring you a couple of those lines again this is directly from the pentagon. was brought down above us territorial waters. president biden gave his authorisation to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to american lives under the balloon�*s path. this is coming out to the point that i was just mentioning. us military commanders had determined to down the balloon pose an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude.