Pentagon says majority of downed Chinese spy craft found

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The majority of the destroyed Chinese surveillance balloon shot down over South Carolina this month has been recovered, the Pentagon confirmed.

The Department of Defense made the announcement Wednesday at the same time they published a never-before-seen photo of the balloon taken from the cockpit of a military jet.

PENTAGON RELEASES U-2 PHOTO OF CHINESE SPY BALLOON IN FLIGHT BEFORE IT WAS SHOT DOWN

A pilot looks down upon a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 3, 2023.  (US Air Force)

"The majority of the balloon, including the payload, was recovered," said Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh.

According to officials, the payload on board the balloon was massive — recovered technology includes surveillance cameras, solar panels and other equipment. 

The balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina by U.S. military fighter jets on Saturday afternoon. A senior U.S. military official said that an F-22 was used to bring down the balloon at 58,000 feet with a single A9X missile.

U.S. INTEL ASSESSES CHINESE SPY BALLOONS TRANSITED US SEVERAL TIMES, WENT ‘UNDETECTED’: SENIOR ADMIN OFFICIAL

FBI Special Agents assigned to the Evidence Response Team process material recovered from the high altitude balloon recovered off the coast of South Carolina. The material was processed and transported to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. The Pentagon claims the majority of the balloon was recovered. (FBI)

China claimed that the airship was a civilian research craft that was blown far off course by prevailing winds, and that it regrets the incident.

U.S. officials later admitted that the three later objects shot down likely had a "benign purpose" and were detected after the U.S. military set its radar system to detect slow-moving balloons. 

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In this photo provided by Chad Fish, a large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it, on Saturday, Feb. 4. (Chad Fish via AP)

The Department of Defense has released of a photo of the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down earlier this month off the coast of South Carolina after it had traversed the country. 

The photo, obtained by Fox News Digital, was taken Feb. 3 by one of the U-2 pilots. It shows a U.S. Air Force pilot looking down at the suspect Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovered over the central continental U.S. 

Fox News' Bradford Betz, Liz Friden and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.