Chinese Balloon Downed in First Kill for the F-22 Fighter

The Chinese surveillance balloon had been tracked across Canada and the U.S. amid worldwide public interest.

F-22A Raptor 1st Fighter Wing — Tracing its history directly back to World War I, the 1st Fighter Wing was the initial front-line recipient of the F-22A. The wing's "FF" tailcode stands for "First Fighter". (Photo: U.S. Air Force)

February 6, 2023

"FRANK One, Splash One, TOI One..." the U.S. Air Force F-22A fighter pilot reported to “Huntress”, their controller at the Eastern Air Defense Sector. "That is a K [code for "catastrophic"] kill, the balloon is completely destroyed." With these words, the Raptor had notched its first air-to-air victory and brought an end to a saga that had engendered public interest around the world.

The Chinese surveillance balloon that was first sighted by the public over Billings, Montana, on February 1 had entered the Alaska Joint Operation Area north of the Aleutian Islands on January 28 and Canadian airspace on January 30, before arriving over the “lower 48” states above northern Idaho on January 31. Chinese officials admitted that the balloon was theirs, but insisted that it was a runaway weather balloon that had been blown off course. The U.S. government contradicted this narrative, insisting that, “This was a PRC [People's Republic of China] surveillance balloon. This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites."

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