Chinese balloon shot down over Atlantic

Joe Biden praised the Top Gun fighter jet pilot who shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina today after he vowed to 'take care of it.'

An F-22 Raptor out of Langley Air Force base took the balloon down with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2.38pm, separating its surveillance payload and sending it plummeting towards the ocean off Myrtle Beach.

Footage showed the jet screaming towards the spy aircraft before firing the missile as stunned locals watched from the coast. 

An operation was underway to recover the wreckage and retrieve any valuable intelligence before it sinks into the ocean.