The Chinese balloon saga and unidentified objects in US airspace: Here's all you need to know
Chinese balloon in US airspace
The balloon saga, which has become a diplomatic row between the United States and China, started when the Pentagon said on February 2 that a large Chinese "spy balloon" was detected high above the continental United States.
Beijing initially said it was verifying the reports, but in the aftermath, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken put off a crucial visit to China and said will travel when "conditions are right."
Beijing later said it regretted an "unintended" breach of US airspace by what it described as an unmanned civilian airship, which was apparently used for research.
China claimed that the balloon "deviated far from its planned course" because of strong winds and a lack of steering ability.
But the saga didn't end there.
Another balloon over Latin America
A day later Pentagon said that a Chinese spy balloon was flying over Latin America, and a similar craft was seen over US skies.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement: "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."
The exact location of the balloon was not revealed.
US shot down the balloon
The Pentagon said that a fighter jet aircraft on February 3 downed a spy balloon which was flying over US territorial waters. It said that the balloon had spent days flying above the country as a response to China's "unacceptable violation".
President Joe Biden congratulated fighter pilots for taking down the balloon off the east coast.
US said that it was a spy balloon
The authorities tracked the debris to analyse it.
The US had already claimed it was a spy balloon, but The Washington Post reported that China used these balloons to spy on other countries, including India and Japan.
As per the official, the balloon could have been a part of a huge aerial spy program operated by the Chinese military, which apparently targeted more than 40 countries on five continents.
The official said that the detailed images taken by high-altitude U2s showed the balloon's payload equipment "was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment onboard weather balloons".
As quoted by the news agencies, the official said, on the grounds of anonymity that "it [the balloon] had multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications."
US shoots down 'high-altitude object' over Alaska
Almost a week after the shooting down of the white balloon, the White House said that a US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object drifting high over Alaska on February 10.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear what the purpose or origin of the new object was, but said that it was taken down because, floating at 40,000 feet, it was a threat to civil aviation.
US jet shoots down unidentified 'object' over Canada
After the Alaska incident, a US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Canada on February 11. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a joint US-Canadian military operation led to the takedown of the object, the latest in a series of mysterious air intrusions.
Trudeau tweeted: "Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object."
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