Chinese spy balloon collected, transmitted intelligence from US military sites in real-time: Report
Chinese spy balloon
The matter of the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States in February this year refuses to die down. Now NBC News has reported that the balloon gathered intelligence from several US military sites and transmitted it back to Beijing in real-time. Beijing had said at the time that the balloon was a weather ship blown astray and entered the US airspace by mistake.
US President Joe Biden had ordered to shoot down the giant Chinese spy balloon near the east coast on February 4. The Chinese foreign ministry reacted angrily to the incident and warned of repercussions over America's use of force against its civilian unmanned airship. It said, “The Chinese side has repeatedly informed the US side after verification that the airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure – it was completely an accident."
The NBC report says that the high-altitude balloon, controlled by Beijing, made multiple passes over some of the sites before it was shot down. It flew at times in a figure-eight formation, NBC said, citing two current senior US officials and one former senior administration official.
The officials told NBC that the spy balloon could transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time.
"The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images," NBC cited the officials as saying.
Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence on US military sites : Report
No official from the US or China has commented on the report yet. While US warned China of flying spy balloons over US territory, it did not think it had a lot of impact on its national security.
Also Read |US shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon
The balloon flew over the US and Canada early in February before it was shot down off the Atlantic Coast. In response, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned visit to Beijing.
Later, Beijing claimed that Washington has sent spy balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022. "It's not uncommon as well for the US to illegally enter the airspace of other countries," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. "Since last year alone, US balloons have illegally flown above China more than 10 times without any approval from Chinese authorities," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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