This is what we know so far:
The incidents began at the end of January, when a giant chinese globewhich Washington officials labeled a spy, drifted for days in US skies before being shot down on February 4 by an F-22 jet off the coast of South Carolina.
China insisted that the balloon was conducting meteorological research.
The Pentagon said it had a gondola the size of three buses and weighed more than a ton, as well as being equipped with multiple antennas and solar panels large enough to power various intelligence-gathering sensors.
Then on Friday US warplanes shot down another object off northern Alaskathe military said, adding that it was “within the sovereign airspace and over the territorial waters of the United States.”
This object lacked any propulsion or control system, according to authorities.
On Saturday, a US F-22 jet, acting on Canadian and Canadian orders, shot down a “high-altitude airborne object.” over the central territory of Yukon, in Canada, about 160 kilometers from the border with the United States, considering that it represented a threat to civil aviation.
Canada described it as cylindrical and smaller than the first balloon. Defense Minister Anita Anand declined to speculate whether he was of Chinese origin.
US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who was briefed by the Biden administration after the latest incident, said on Sunday that the last two objects were likely balloons, “but much smaller than the first one,” and that both were flying at an altitude of 12,200 meters.
US officials described the two new objects as the size of a volkswagen beetle.
Military teams, working with planes, boats and mini-submarines, are touring the shallow waters off South Carolina. Military images showed the recovery of a large piece of the balloon.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation assumed custody of the remains for analysis.
Operations to recover the second object continue on the sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. “Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow and limited daylight” impact operations, the military said.
Recovery teams, backed by a Canadian CP-140 patrol aircraft, are searching for remains of the third object in the Yukon, Anand said Saturday. The Pentagon noted that the FBI is working closely with Canadian police.
On Sunday, US fighters shot down a new object that was flying over Lake Huron on Biden’s orderson the US-Canada border, “out of an abundance of caution.”
US officials say images of the first balloon show it consisted of surveillance equipment that could intercept telecommunications.
The Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, assured that it was his mission “Monitoring Strategic Sites in the Continental United States”.
A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, suggested that China, or some members of his military leadership, were intentionally seeking to undermine Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing.
The United States maintains that the balloons were part of a “fleet” that has traveled the five continents.
Some analysts say it may be the start of a major Chinese surveillance effort aimed at analyzing foreign military capabilities in anticipation of possible tensions over Taiwan in the coming years.
Analysts say U.S. and Canadian intelligence is constantly receiving large amounts of raw data and generally discarding some to focus on the threat of incoming missiles, not slow-moving objects like balloons.
“Now, of course, we’re tracking them. So I think we’ll probably find more stuff,” Jim Himes, the top Democratic representative on the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC.
Officials said three balloons are now known to have briefly flown over the United States during the Trump administration, undetected at the time, and one under Joe Biden’s own administration.
On Saturday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) sent fighter jets to investigate a “radar anomaly” over Montanabut did not find any related objects.
The United States has suspended Blinken’s visit to China, seeking to stabilize bilateral relations, and has sanctioned six Chinese entities it believes support military spy balloon programs.
Beijing denounced the demolition of the first balloon and said it “seriously violates international practice.” He reserved the right “to use any means necessary to deal with similar situations.”
There has been no Chinese reaction to the last two shootdowns.
Republicans have criticized Biden for waiting so long to shoot down the first balloon, though on Sunday House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner said the US military had gone from “permissive” to “easy shooting “.
Schumer defended Biden’s handling of the crisis, telling ABC that an analysis of the recovered balloon wreckage may deal “a huge blow to America.”
But Biden has faced calls from both camps to show more transparency. “I’m really concerned about why the administration isn’t being more forthcoming with everything it knows,” Himes said.
Source: Ambito
