According to two senior defense officials on Saturday, the strange spy balloon that passed above the continental United States over many days provided the U.S. military with a rare chance to learn more about China’s surveillance capabilities.
The Department of Defense (DOD) rejected President Joe Biden’s request to explore using military action to counter a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was discovered in American airspace on Wednesday owing to safety concerns over possibly dangerous debris. When the aircraft passed via Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, entered Canada, and then returned to the United States through Idaho last month, there is still no confirmation of whether or not any military action was taken.
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awaiting the balloon’s deflation “actually provided us a number of days to analyze this balloon, and through a number of means,” the defense official said. “We don’t know exactly all the benefits that will derive, but we have learned technical things about this balloon and its surveillance capabilities.”
The balloon’s surveillance capabilities, which the official characterized as “broad,” were able to be “study” and “scrutinized” by the U.S.
With rescue efforts already underway, Navy and Coast Guard boats have begun their hunt to learn more about Chinese monitoring activities. Although no precise timetable has yet been established, a report is anticipated shortly.
An F-22 fighter plane from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia fired a single, accurate shot with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile from 58,000 feet over the Atlantic off the coast of South Carolina. The devastating attack caused the flying target, together with its cargo and balloon, to make a spectacular drop to the watery death below.
The military also came to the conclusion that it would not represent a direct danger to Americans and would not provide China a major monitoring advantage. Additionally, “precautions” were taken to reduce the balloon’s collecting value.
“At the point we felt it posed a potential threat to us in the continental United States we started developing options, and at that point we decided that the risk-reward was not worth taking it down overland,” the senior defense official said.
The United States successfully launched a mission at 2:39 p.m. Eastern time to destroy an aerial intrusion that was six nautical miles off the American coast and inside its own territory.
“This was the first available opportunity to successfully bring down this surveillance balloon in a way that would not pose a threat to the safety of Americans,” the defense official said.
A senior military officer estimates that a large debris field has affected an area of at least seven kilometers.
China has spread out massive balloons throughout different parts of the country, reaching its climax during the most recent event, which lasted longer than previous ones under both Presidents Trump and Biden.
The Pentagon has uncovered additional surveillance balloons flying through the skies of Latin America, according to officials. This represents an increase in regional monitoring efforts on a global scale.
“These balloons are all part of a PRC fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations, which have also violated the sovereignty of other countries,” the official said, adding that balloons have been spotted in countries spanning five continents in recent years.
