An alleged Chinese spy balloon blasted across the skies of the United States for a week, hovering over parts of the country that house key nuclear missile silos. It sparked national security concerns and diplomatic tension between Washington and Beijing before finally shot down Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.
Tracking the Balloon
When the US discovered a Chinese spy balloon hovering over sensitive nuclear missile silos in Montana, it was an alarming sight. The balloon, which looked like a dangling white “shrivelled Kleenex,” tracked intensely on television screens and in the Pentagon’s war room.
The object, which reportedly entered the US’s airspace on 28 January, was flying at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 feet. The balloon detected by the FBI and the National Guard, according to reports.
After it detected, a high-ranking official at the Pentagon convened a meeting that involved senior military officials. They said they decided against shooting the balloon down, mainly due to concerns about falling debris and risks to people and property on the ground.
But they also said the balloon had limited value from an intelligence gathering perspective because of its size, and that Chinese spy satellites in low Earth orbit were able to offer similar information. In addition, the balloon was in a location where it could not easily intercept or destroyed by US forces.
China, on the other hand, says the balloon was a civilian weather research vessel that blown off course by winds. The balloon, which had limited self-steering capabilities, was unable to right itself and deviated far from its intended course.
In a statement on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it “regretted the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace” and called on the US not to make any further accusations against the Chinese.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesperson told NBC News the agency had tracked the balloon before it discovered by the FBI. The object first entered US airspace on 28 January near the Aleutian Islands, before moving to Canadian airspace three days later.
It then returned to the United States on 31 January and spotted in Montana, which is home to fields of underground Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos. The incident has sparked an intense debate between the US and China.
The US and Canada notified their allies of the object’s arrival in their territories and began to track it, according to CNN. Earlier, a Pentagon press release described the balloon as a “high-altitude surveillance aircraft” that monitored by American forces. Eventually, the balloon shot down by an air-to-air missile fired by two F-22 fighter jets.
Air Force Shot It Down
China’s spy balloon had spotted in American airspace for days, and its presence was a harbinger of growing tensions between the two nations. It also raised questions about how the Pentagon would handle a drone-like aircraft that it said held surveillance equipment the size of two to three school buses.
It was clear the balloon was a Chinese spy craft, with defense officials saying it was meant to collect intelligence on sensitive sites in the U.S. In addition, it has since downed by US fighter jets, putting an end to a week-long drama that put the diplomatic crisis between the two powers onto the front pages of newspapers in real time.
The balloon shot down Saturday by US fighter jets near the coast of South Carolina, a military official told CNN. The F-22 fighter jet fired an air-to-air missile that hit the balloon at 2:39 p.m. in a location six miles off the coast. The balloon’s debris field scattered over seven miles of water, with locally-based Navy ships helping to recover it and salvage the payload.
After the shoot-down, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was a lawful response to an intrusion into American airspace that had spotted for five days. He said the action taken in coordination with Canada, which helped monitor the balloon as it traversed North America.
As the balloon drifted over the western United States, it prompted the Department of State to postpone a visit by its top diplomat in Beijing, aimed at soothing tensions between the world’s two most powerful countries. It also touched off debate within the administration and in Congress over how to handle a drone-like aircraft that believed to have been scouting for a place to spy on sensitive national security sites.
It was a clumsy and provocative move, analysts say, to embarrass or rile the U.S. While the Chinese government insists it was just a weather research balloon that entered American airspace without permission, the Pentagon has rejected that claim out of hand.
The balloon sparked a diplomatic dispute between Washington and Beijing, with the two sides calling it an illegal intrusion into American airspace. The balloon is a part of a series of Chinese drone-like aircraft that have scouted for a place to spy on sensitive sites in the U.S. and other parts of the world. The Pentagon has repeatedly disputed that the balloon was only meant for weather research, and says it used to gather intelligence from the ground.
Air Force Says It Wasn’t Used for Surveillance
As the mysterious Chinese spy balloon continued its eastward course over the United States, the Air Force was able to make some important claims about its presence. The official said that the balloon not used for surveillance and did not pose a threat to civil aviation, but the debris from its downfall would be an unwelcome threat to people on the ground.
The official said that the balloon likely used for weather-related research, adding that the aircraft was a civilian “airship” that deviated far from its intended course due to winds. That makes it an object that is not in the US’s sovereign airspace, according to government lawyers.
Still, the Air Force has a good reason for keeping it in custody — the balloon detected at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, home to one of the country’s three nuclear missile silo fields.
A defense official told reporters on Thursday that the US had taken custody of the balloon when it entered its airspace, and that similar surveillance activity has seen in the past. The balloon not armed and did not collect any sensitive information.
But this doesn’t mean that China has a free pass to spy on the U.S. There are ways to interfere with the balloon’s surveillance mission, such as jamming its ability to communicate with its controllers or blinding its optical systems.
The Pentagon also says that the balloon is not a threat to any civilian air traffic, because it would have to fly too close to airports for them to detect its presence. Despite this, the Pentagon is monitoring the balloon closely and continues to keep the option of shooting it down on the table.
In the meantime, the balloon is over the central United States and moving eastward at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. It has spotted by a number of people, including pilots of military aircraft and civilian airplanes.
The balloon expected to continue to fly over the United States for some time, and the Defense Department is continuing to monitor it closely. The Pentagon is still weighing options for how to deal with the balloon, but the Air Force is recommending against a shootdown at this time.
Air Force Says It’s Just a Balloon
When it first entered US airspace in late January, the balloon went unnoticed as it travelled high over Alaska and Canada and back into the United States. It tracked and assessed by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, but military officials assigned little importance to its intrusion.
When the balloon spotted in Montana Wednesday, defense and intelligence officials said it appeared to be lingering longer than previous spy balloons. They had a “high confidence” that it was Chinese but did not say what it might be doing or where it might be going.
As the balloon continued its travels across the US, including over Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, which has fields of nuclear missile silos, Pentagon officials said they were weighing whether to shoot it down. But they decided against it, primarily because of the possibility of debris tumbling down to hurt people on the ground.
The balloon was a “very bold act” of surveillance, says military expert Laura Shrimpton. A nation that wanted to gather intelligence about US nuclear capabilities might have used a balloon like this one, she adds.
It also could have been a challenge to US diplomats, who were planning to send Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing on Friday for an official visit. And it might have been a warning to the United States ahead of Blinken’s trip, suggests Susan Davis, director of the China and Global Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But the balloon is not the only example of China’s aggressive use of its surveillance capabilities to spy on the United States. The Pentagon has been deploying a variety of assets to monitor and bolster its defenses against China, from satellites in space to electronic intelligence aircraft and submarines.
In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry disputed claims by American officials that the balloon was meant for surveillance. It said the balloon was “an accidental entry of a civilian unmanned airship into a foreign country’s airspace.” It said it reserved the right to respond further, though the ministry did not specify how.
