Pentagon Warns Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon Could Result in ‘Civilian Injuries or Deaths or Significant Property Damage’

Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder spoke to reporters on Friday and offered an update on the Chinese spy balloon currently over the United States – causing a furor on right-wing media.

“How big is the balloon that you’re tracking? And is it, have you guys picked up, is it leaving anything in its wake like sensors?” asked a reporter during the press conference.

“Yeah. So on your latter question, I’m not going to get into intelligence,” replied Ryder, adding:

We do continue to monitor the balloon. We do know that it is a surveillance balloon. In terms of the size, I’m not able to get into the specifics other than to say that it is big enough that, again, in reviewing our approach, we do recognize that any potential debris field would be significant and potentially cause civilian injuries or deaths or significant property damage. So, again, this is part of the calculus in terms of our overall assessment. But again, we’ll continue to monitor it. We’ll continue to review our options and keep you updated as able.

Many on the right have called for the balloon to be shot down.

“Biden should shoot down the Chinese spy balloon immediately. President Trump would have never tolerated this,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote on Twitter, adding:

President Trump would have never tolerated many things happening to America.

Trump also called for the balloon to be shot down, while his son, Donald Trump Jr, suggested the people of Montana shoot it down themselves – despite the balloon flying at some 66,000 feet.

In fact, shooting the balloon down may not be so simple. The F-22 Raptor has a maximum operating altitude of jsut over 50,000 feet, but could be taken higher in an instance like this.

Additionally, surface-to-air missiles “weren’t designed to operate as high up as a high-altitude balloon can fly because of the limits of their control surfaces, specifically the fins, wings, and tail,” reported Insider. An expert told the outlet that “both surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles ‘aren’t designed to attack balloons because balloons don’t look like the kind of valid targets that they were designed to attack,’ like enemy aircraft or missiles.”

Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.