“Exploring the Wreckage of a Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Off the Coast of Surfside Beach, SC”

Suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast of Surfside Beach

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down offshore in Surfside Beach, SC on February 4, 2023. Credit – Randall Hill – Reuters

The US military launched an underwater mission on Monday to collect remains of the downed Chinese spy balloon that Biden administration officials hope will provide clues into how the Chinese government has been conducting a years-long surveillance operation.

The high-altitude spy balloons flew briefly over the continental US at least three times in the past six years, but went undetected until the last one invaded American airspace last week. “I will tell you that we have not detected these threats,” Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told reporters Monday. “And that’s a domain awareness gap that we need to figure out.”

The Pentagon is hoping the operation to recover the balloon shot down by US warplanes off the coast of Carolina over the weekend will glean new intelligence about China’s surveillance practices. The military have “collected most of this debris” floating on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, VanHerck said, adding that US Navy search teams are now focusing on an area underwater that stretches 15 football fields by 15 football fields , parts of the surveillance apparatus that hung beneath the balloon. The debris field is scattered in less than 50 feet of water, but weather conditions prevented underwater collection until Monday morning.

Around 10 a.m. Monday, sailors set out to deploy underwater drones with side-scan sonar arrays designed to create detailed images of what lies beneath the sea. Meanwhile, the oceanographic survey ship uss Pathfinder worked to map the seafloor topography with its powerful sonar equipment.

Continue reading: How an alleged spy balloon derailed a key US-China meeting

The Chinese plane was huge, so there’s a lot to look for. The inflated balloon alone was estimated to be 200 feet high, with a payload beneath it comparable in size to a “regional jet,” VanHerck said. “Imagine large debris weighing hundreds if not thousands of pounds falling from the sky.”

Recovery is complicated by the potential presence of hazardous materials in the balloon, such as B. Materials required for batteries or possible explosives. The FBI supports the salvage operation “among counterintelligence agencies,” VanHerck said.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that recovery efforts will aim to find out whether China has surveillance capabilities aboard the balloon beyond what the US has when observing its four-day flight found the country. “The time we had within a few days last week to study this balloon was important to us and will give us much more clarity, not only about the capabilities these balloons have, but what China is trying to do with them.” do,” he told reporters.

Armed with the new information, Kirby said the Biden administration had discovered “at least three” previous instances of Chinese surveillance balloons crossing US airspace. Two of those overflights happened during the Trump administration, so the White House is preparing to brief key Trump officials on forensics.

Previous flights were shorter, US officials said. But the fact that a foreign aircraft was able to penetrate US defense systems is alarming. The US has spent decades investing billions of dollars in radars, satellite constellations and other global systems to detect aerial threats.

How a giant balloon dodges this trawl has become a political flashpoint. “Not only has this government failed here; They failed to prepare after this first happened,” Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

The Chinese balloon flew over the Aleutian Islands near Alaska on Jan. 28, then through Canada two days later, and finally into the continental United States via Idaho on Jan. 31, U.S. officials said. It became national news on February 2 after civilian pilots were alerted by its presence and the Pentagon admitted the alleged spy balloon was in the country.

Biden asked the Pentagon to come up with options the day it invaded the northern United States, a senior defense official told reporters. The military initially considered shooting down the balloon Wednesday as it flew over Montana. The state is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of three bases that host nuclear-tipped ICBM arrays. But military commanders advised against attempting a launch for fear that such an act could cause falling debris that could endanger people on the ground, the official said.

As the plane snaked over central America, the Chinese government confirmed that the balloon was its own, but insisted it was merely a “civilian airship” used for weather research and accidentally entered US airspace had penetrated. The White House dismissed this account, citing the fact that the balloon had propellers and rudders that allowed it to accelerate, decelerate, loaf around and change direction – although its maneuverability was affected by the jet stream.

Continue reading: The Chinese balloon doesn’t look like a weather balloon, experts say

On orders from the president, an F-22 stealth fighter jet flew to an altitude of about 58,000 feet off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday and shot down the balloon that was hovering less than 10,000 feet overhead.

The Biden administration has insisted that the balloon will not give China any additional surveillance capabilities beyond what is on board its spy satellites already orbiting the Earth. While the balloon’s ability to linger over certain locations sets it apart from spacecraft, the US military says it has taken every precaution to ensure all sensitive facilities are protected from Chinese intelligence-gathering attempts. She didn’t give any details.

For now, the government hopes it can glean new insights into this year-long Chinese operation and uncover what secrets have been lost – or which may have been lost – by sourcing and analyzing the debris currently strewn across the shallows of the Atlantic .

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