By Mithil Aggarwal -
NBC News
The United States claims it has already recovered key electronic components, including sensors, from the suspected Chinese spy balloon it shot down earlier this month.
“Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all identified priority sensors and electronic parts, as well as large sections of the structure,” the US Army Northern Command announced in a statement Monday, according to the Reuters news agency.
NBC News, sister network to Noticias Telemundo, has contacted the Pentagon for more information.
[USA. sanctions six Chinese companies for the spy balloon and the diplomatic crisis worsens]
The balloon spent several days hovering over the United States and Canada before President Joe Biden ordered it shot down on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina, triggering a search for a 5,000-square-foot debris field. , or about 15 soccer fields by 15 soccer fields.
China has maintained that it was a civilian aircraft conducting weather research that went off course, but the saga has further strained relations between the world's two largest economies.
Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare the remains of a high-altitude balloon recovered in the Atlantic Ocean for delivery to federal agents at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, on February 10, 2023. Ryan Seelbach / US Navy via Getty Images
Since then, the United States has shot down three other objects over North America, the latest on Sunday over Lake Huron.
It was not clear if those objects, which flew much lower and were much smaller in size, were linked to China or the earlier globe.
[Colombia detected an object similar to the Chinese spy balloon: the Pentagon had warned of another in Latin America]
The mystery has stoked public interest and the frustration of lawmakers, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin telling reporters Monday that teams had yet to recover any remains from the three most recent incidents.
Announcing the creation of a new interagency team to study these objects, the White House said Monday that they posed no threat to people on the ground, sent no communication signals, and had no maneuverability or propulsion capabilities.
The US military has been using a broader range of radar data in its surveillance of US airspace, taking a closer look at a larger number of objects it may have leaked in the past, the council spokesman told the briefing. of Homeland Security, John Kirby.
It was the size of a car and flew very high: this is what we know about the second object that the US shot down with a missile
Feb 10, 202301:49
While US officials refrained from jumping to conclusions, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference Monday that "there is some kind of pattern there."
The recovery of electronic components from the first downed balloon came after Beijing accused the United States of flying high-altitude balloons over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since early last year.
[What is a spy balloon and why does the supposed detection of one of Chinese origin in the United States raise alarms?]
"It is not at all uncommon for American balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Monday.
“The United States should first reflect on itself and change course instead of smearing other countries,” he added.
Kirby responded Monday denying the allegation.
“We don't fly over China with surveillance balloons,” he said.
The initial discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon led to the last-minute cancellation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing, and it remained unclear if and when it would be rescheduled.
“We remain open to talk, discuss, and reschedule our trip to Beijing when conditions are appropriate,” Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told a news conference Monday.
[USA. believes the unidentified objects he shot down are balloons, but smaller than the artifact from China]
China, meanwhile, has been keeping an eye on an unknown flying object on its own soil, according to The Paper, a Chinese news outlet.
In a report published on Sunday, it was said that maritime authorities in the eastern province of Shandong had alerted local fishermen that they were preparing to shoot down the object, which was detected over waters near the coastal city of Rizhao.
The report did not give details about the object, such as where authorities believe it might have originated from, and Wang did not respond to a question from reporters about it.
