US failed to identify Chinese spy balloons: A senior US general who was in charge of bringing down a Chinese surveillance balloon claimed on Monday that there was an “awareness gap” in the military’s ability to identify spy balloons before the one that emerged above the US on January 28.
Chinese spy balloons have briefly flown over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump’s administration and once before, according to the Pentagon’s report over the weekend.
The most recent balloon was 200 feet (60 metres) tall, with a cargo that weighted a few thousand pounds, according to Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is also the commander of the US North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command.
He omitted data about earlier balloons, such as where they soared over the United States.
I’ll admit that we missed those dangers, and it indicates a domain awareness gap, stated VanHerck.
Without going into greater detail as to whether those “other ways of collection” of intelligence would have involved human sources, telephone intercepts, or cyber espionage, VanHerck said that US intelligence discovered the earlier flights after the fact.
Senior US officials have offered to advise former administration members on the specifics of earlier balloon overflights that took place while Trump was president.
“Shooting Down of Chinese Balloon Escalates US-China Tensions”
The Pentagon informed Republican Representative Michael Waltz, a member of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, that multiple Chinese balloon mishaps had occurred in recent years, including some over Florida.
The alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by a US Air Force fighter jet on Saturday, a week after it first crossed US airspace and set off a dramatic and widely publicised spying story that deteriorated Sino-US relations.
VanHerck said he had no proof of explosives being aboard the balloon, but he also could not rule out the possibility. However, he planned to shoot the balloon down over open sea because of that risk.
One F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia fired the shot at 2:39 p.m. with a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking air-to-air missile. Several fighter and refuelling aircraft were part in the mission.
Many military vessels assisted in the operation to gather debris from a region measuring around 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters, according to VanHerck.
The US Coast Guard implements a temporary security zone around Surfside Beach, South Carolina following the shooting down of the balloon.
Officials did not disclose the integrity of the eavesdropping sensors carried by the balloon’s payload, which may determine the success of the shoot-down.