Powered by

US tracking Chinese spy balloon spotted flying over sensitive sites

It was decided not to shoot down the object as it would endanger people on the ground

ADDITION APTOPIX United States China A high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. The U.S. is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over U.S. airspace for a couple days. But, the Pentagon would not confirm that the balloon in the photo was the surveillance balloon | AP

The United States is tracking a suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon spotted flying over highly-sensitive nuclear weapon sites in the country, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The balloon was recently seen above the western state of Montana, which houses underground Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the department was confident that the balloon belonged to the People’s Republic of China. "Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration. The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground," Ryder said.

The senior Pentagon official added that at President Joe Biden's request, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top military officials considered shooting the balloon down, but decided against it as it would endanger too many people on the ground.

He added that balloon current flight path carries it over "a number of sensitive sites" but there is limited possibility of it gathering significant intelligence. Ryder said the balloon is assessed to have "limited additive value" from an intelligence collection perspective.

The balloon reportedly entered US airspace a couple days ago, and the US intelligence had been tracking it well before that. The Pentagon also flew fighter jets to examine the balloon while it was above Montana. 

President Joe Biden was told about high-altitude balloon, which is the size of three buses, and he wanted to explore military options on how to deal with it, CNN quoted a senior administration official.

However, senior military leaders, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, reccomended not shooting it down. "Why not shoot it down? We have to do the risk-reward here. So the first question is, does it pose a threat, a physical kinetic threat, to individuals in the United States in the US homeland? Our assessment is it does not. Does it pose a threat to civilian aviation? Our assessment is it does not. Does it pose a significantly enhanced threat on the intelligence side? Our best assessment right now is that it does not. So given that profile, we assess the risk of downing it, even if the probability is low in a sparsely populated area of the debris falling and hurting someone or damaging property, that it wasn’t worth it, the official told CNN.

The US government has reportedly contacted the Chinese government through the Chinese embassy in Washington and the US diplomatic mission in China in this regard. 

This isn't the first time that China is sending spy balloons over the US, but this is the first time it lingered over the US this long. Interestingly, this comes at a time when Seccretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to Beijing next week.

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines