From January 28 to February 4 a high altitude balloon originating from China flew across North American Aerospace. The U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over water off the coast of South Carolina where debris was collected from the wreckage and sent to the FBI for analysis. U.S. officials followed up in June claiming that the balloon carried intelligence gathering equipment but did not appear to have sent it back to China. President Joe Biden stated that it the balloon was not a major breach as he also believed that Chinese leadership was not aware of the balloon. When the balloon was first spotted the Pentagon characterized it as a surveillance balloon; however, the Chinese government maintained that it was a civilian, mainly meteorological, airship that had been blown off its course. Expert analysts explained that the flight path and structural characteristics were dissimilar to those of a typical weather balloon. This incident increased U.S. and China tensions as the United States called the presence of the balloon a violation of its sovereignty.