Pentagon: China's downed balloon was used to monitor US strategic facilities

“This afternoon, at the behest of President Biden, an American fighter aircraft … successfully shot down a high-altitude balloon launched by and owned by the PRC in airspace off the coast of South Carolina,” the minister said in a statement.

According to Austin, "the device was used to monitor strategic objects."

Earlier it was reported that the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that had previously entered American airspace.