The U.S. military confirmed in a statement Friday that it is tracking a mysterious high-altitude balloon drifting across the country’s west.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said a military aircraft spotted the balloon while flying over Utah at an altitude of 43,000 to 45,000 feet, and an investigation determined the object was not self-propelled and posed a threat. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced that it was determined that there was no such thing. Statement sent via email. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also determined that balloons are not a danger to civil aviation.
“The balloon was intercepted by a NORAD fighter aircraft over Utah and determined to be uncontrollable and not a threat to national security. NORAD will continue to track and monitor the balloon,” NORAD said in a statement. (Related: China arrests national who worked for US company on suspicion of espionage)
After the balloon was discovered, the military sent an aircraft to investigate, CBS News first reported. reportsaid a US official. It was last seen heading east in the jet stream on Friday, and was seen earlier in the day in Colorado, officials told the publication. one person said.
The sighting comes just over a year after a large Chinese high-altitude reconnaissance balloon crossed the continental United States from Alaska, causing an uproar in Washington. On February 4, 2023, a US fighter jet dropped a balloon off the coast of South Carolina after passing through US airspace, apparently to monitor sensitive military installations.
Biden administration officials said they have taken steps to protect sensitive facilities from China’s balloon spying capabilities. However, the balloons may have picked up electronic signals, which may have originated from weapons systems or communications between base personnel, and transmitted the data in real time to Beijing and NBC. report.
Several other balloons were discovered and several were shot down in the following weeks, but none were found to be of foreign origin.
Gen. Glenn VanHerck, former commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told lawmakers at the time that the United States did not have the ability to detect intrusions such as Chinese reconnaissance balloons until after the fact. He told parliamentarians that he was often unaware of this. .
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado – A CV-22 Osprey takes off from U.S. Air Force Academy Air Station during an incentive flight, Nov. 2, 2019. DVDShub.
Official and media reports after the shootdown revealed that the aircraft represented part of a broader Chinese Communist Party (CCP) program to covertly gather information about other countries.
President Joe Biden’s promise to establish a code of conduct in the skies has not materialized.
Biden administration officials say the public backlash and reputational impact on the Chinese government after the reconnaissance balloon revelations that shocked the world in early 2023 may actually exaggerate the national security threat posed by the balloons. , secretly lamented that it had damaged relations with China. according to To NBC.
Immediately after the call, U.S. military jets used targeting pods to confirm that the objects were balloons the size of three school buses with large surveillance payloads, but no attack capabilities. NBC reported.
China claimed the balloon was a civilian airship designed to recover weather damage that had been blown far off course.
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