The United States has recovered large parts of the sensors and electronics that were on board the Chinese airship that was shot down in early February, the US military said Monday.
The US military's Northern Command said significant debris had been recovered from the site of the airship's fall, including priority sensors, electronics parts, as well as large parts of the structure.
And the Ministry of Defense published pictures of the US Navy recovering parts of the airship that fell into the sea, off the coast of South Carolina.
Washington says it has no doubt that it was a Chinese spy balloon that entered US territory several days before it was shot down.
On the other hand, Beijing asserts that it is a civilian balloon used for research purposes, especially for meteorology.
The balloon was shot down on February 4 by an F-22 fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina, and teams were immediately deployed to recover the wreckage from the sea.
Since then, US fighter jets have shot down 3 flying objects, one over Alaska (northwest), the other over the Yukon in northwest Canada, and the third over Lake Huron in the northern United States.
For its part, China demanded that the United States conduct an investigation and provide explanations regarding balloons that it said flew over China last year without its consent.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin confirmed that US airships have flown over China and other countries more than 10 times.