The United States says it has recovered key sensors from allegedly downed Chinese spy balloon as tensions between the countries escalated.
The Chinese balloon, which Beijing denies was a government spy ship, spent a week flying over the US and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it shot down off shore South Carolina coast.
The US Armed Forces Northern Command said in a statement, “Crews were able to recover significant debris from the site, including all identified priority sensors and electronic pieces, as well as large sections of the structure.”
The downing of the balloon on February 4 was followed by the downing of three other unidentified objects over North American airspace.
The balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4th
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How the US shot down the Chinese “spy balloon”.
The United States has admitted that many of the newest unmanned objects remain unknown, including how they sit high, who built them, and whether they might have gathered intelligence.
The White House says it has determined that China has a “high altitude balloon program” for gathering information.
The United States was tracking the balloon as it lifted off Hainan Island in southern China in late January. reported the New York Times.
Meanwhile, a suspected high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon flew near sensitive US military sites in the Middle East last year, but was far enough offshore that it wasn’t considered a threat, the paper said.
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“There’s No Sign of Aliens”
The Japanese government has reportedly concluded that an object that flew over its waters near the southwestern region of Kyushu in January 2022 was most likely a Chinese spy balloon.
The United States has yet to recover any wreckage from the three most recent downed objects, one of which went down off the coast of Alaska in ice and snow.
An object was shot down over the Yukon Territory in Canada.
To know more:
United States on flying object alert
Spy balloons and flying objects: a history of what and where fighters have shot down
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the four aerial objects were somehow connected, without elaborating.
He said: “Obviously there’s some sort of pattern in there, the fact that we’re seeing that to a significant extent over the last week is a cause for interest and great attention.
China has said US high-altitude balloons have been flying over its airspace more than 10 times in the last year – a claim Washington rejects.
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The United States denies flying balloons over China
What we know so far about flying objects:
• On February 4, the first object, described by US officials as a suspected Chinese “spy” balloon, was shot down off the Carolina coast;
• On February 10, a second object, described as “the size of a small car,” was sighted by NORAD near Alaska and shot down;
• Just one day later, on February 11, a third, again unidentified object was tracked entering US airspace over Alaska before drifting over Canada and was shot down;
• On Sunday, US officials confirmed that another unidentified object had been shot down by fighter planes over Lake Huron on the US-Canadian border near Michigan;
• A US F-16 jet fired a missile approximately 20,000 feet at the latest object amid fears that its altitude and flight path could endanger civilian aircraft;
• A senior US official, speaking anonymously, described the latest object as having “an octagonal structure with hanging wires but no discernible payload”;
• Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said teams were looking for the downed object over his country.
