“Chinese Spy Balloon Collects Real Information About US Military Bases”

In February of this year, the world was mesmerized by suspicious objects in the North American skies. On February 4, an American F-22 fighter jet shot down a large white balloon. A Chinese spy balloon, US claims. China has always denied it and talked about a weather balloon. The discovery of the balloon caused great tension between the two countries.

After further investigation, the United States has now determined that the balloon first spotted in Alaska on January 28 was indeed capable of gathering information. China operated the balloon to fly several times over certain locations and collect real-time data that was sent to Beijing. That’s what three US officials told NBC News.

Read more. How concerned should we be about spy balloons? And what about satellites?

The information China collected in this way mainly came from electronic signals from armed systems or communications from personnel on military bases. There will be no pictures.

According to the three officials, China could have collected more intelligence on critical sites had the US government not intervened.

After that first Chinese balloon was shot down, three other objects appeared in North American skies. Its origin and function are still unclear. Suspicious objects were also seen over Japanese airspace, Canadian and Romanian airspace during that period. (sgg)