In a latest development, the United States shot down a high-altitude surveillance balloon, believed to be operated by China, after it made multiple passes over specific locations in the US and transmitted real-time information back to Beijing.
The incident has sparked tensions between the two countries, with China claiming that the unmanned balloon was a civilian airship that had accidentally strayed off course.
The balloon was discovered in late January 2023, when it first entered US territory from Alaska. The object believed to be a balloon was described as being as large as three buses.
The high-altitude balloon was able to make multiple trips over some of the locations before being shot down on Feb. 4, NBC reported, citing two current senior US officials and one former senior administration official.
“This afternoon, at the direction of President Biden, US fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command successfully brought down the People’s Republic of China’s high altitude surveillance balloon over the water off the coast of South Carolina in US airspace,” Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
According to a report by NBC News, China successfully operated a balloon that could fly over specific locations multiple times and transmit real-time information back to Beijing.
The balloon was able to fly in figure-eight patterns, and the collected intelligence was mostly from electronic signals such as those from weapons systems or communications from military bases, rather than images. The report cited three anonymous officials as its sources.
The National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, declined to confirm the balloon’s movements. He did, however, tell the media that the balloon could self-maneuver and could be controlled electronically by operators.
“Knowing it was going to enter U.S. airspace we took action to limit the ability of this balloon to garner anything of additive or especially useful content,” said John Kirby. “So again, I won’t get ahead of what we’re learning off this thing.”
“The administration’s explanation that the balloon had ‘limited additive value’ is little comfort to Montanans and the American people and weak spin on an issue that the administration mishandled from start to finish,” Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said.
Despite repeated claims by China that the balloon was an unmanned civilian airship that had unintentionally deviated from its path, the U.S. maintains that it was a deliberate attempt at collecting intelligence. China has accused the U.S. of overreacting by shooting it down.
Despite several requests for information about the ownership of the balloon, Chinese officials have not provided any details on which company, department or organization it belonged to, according to NBC News.
The incident has raised concerns about the increasing use of high-tech surveillance equipment by nations for espionage purposes, and the need for stronger measures to protect national security.
