The U.S. and Canada shot down Civilian Meteorological Balloon Causes Outrage in China
The United States and Canada are focusing on controlling civilian meteorological balloons in the sky. The US shot one over Alaska on Friday, another over the Yukon Territory on Saturday, and the third over Michigan on Sunday.
Both countries are trying to locate and recover the objects. But their efforts seem to be hindered as the locations are very remote off the coast of the Arctic over Alaska and the uneven Canadian jungles.
This incident happened just a week after the US tore a Chinese spy balloon out of the sky. The balloon was equipped with an antenna that was meant to show the locations of communications devices. It was also competent in tracking calls done via those devices.
For several days the balloon passing over America mesmerized the public. And drew attention to the growing conflict between China and the United States in Washington and across the country.
What exactly transpired over Alaska, the Yukon, and Michigan?
An unidentified flying object was shot down, by the U.S. military on Friday over the Arctic Ocean near Alaska. The Defense Department officials said that troops with U.S. Northern Command were working with Alaska National Guard units, the FBI, and local law enforcement to recover the object and determine its nature near Deadhorse, Alaska.
Then again on Saturday, an American F-22 shot down an object over Yukon Territory with the North American Aerospace Defense Command which is operated jointly by the United States and Canada. The American fighter jets, sent by NORAD were soon joined by F-22. They used a Sidewinder air-to-air missile to shoot the object over Canadian territory, resembling the same that was used to obliterate the two previous flying objects.
Another object was shot down by the United States on Sunday over Lake Huron by using an F-16 fighter jet that shot the object with a Sidewinder air-to-air missile.
Why were these objects shot down faster?
The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by the US earlier this month, allowed U.S. officials to observe it and collect intelligence. It didn’t pose a danger to the aircraft as it was
flying at 60,000 feet. But the object above Michigan was a potential danger to civil aviation as it was flying at 20,000 feet. The same was the case with the other two objects shot down Friday and Saturday according to U.S. and Canadian officials. They posed a greater danger to civilian aircraft.
Officials claim that the spy balloon’s falling debris could have struck persons on the ground. But the other objects were shot over water or thinly populated areas, hence it minimized the risk of falling debris.
Due to the spy balloon, there was also a situation of high alert. The incident created strong strife with China even though it is rare for the US to Shooting Down unidentified flying objects, post the spotting of the balloon almost two weeks ago in American skies.
Both government officials have said that the object over the Yukon was cylindrical in shape smaller than the spy balloon. US officials are not sure what these new items are. And don’t even know what their purpose is or who sent them. China admitted that the spy balloon was theirs, whose purpose was to research the weather
The object that was shot down on Sunday was octagonal in shape with strings hanging off. The Chinese balloon has been described as about 200 feet tall and weighing thousands of pounds.
What was the spy balloon collecting?
What was the spy balloon collecting? Is a big question.
Nobody knows about what information the balloon was supposed to be slithering away as it made its way across the country.
How many spy balloons have there been?
Balloons are not easy to be picked up on the radar. Earlier balloons that were seen near U.S. military exercises or bases were not regarded as surveillance tools. On the contrary, they were categorized as unidentified aerial phenomena, now termed UFOs.
Over the last 18 months, the Chinese spy balloon program was investigated by the United States and they then learned that some previous cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, were spy balloons.
A study of old data showed that during the Trump administration, at least three spy balloons entered U.S. airspace. However, all those were very small incidents of short duration as compared to this month’s spy balloon.
with a mission to collect information across the world, China has developed a spy balloon program as a complement to its fleet of reconnaissance satellites according to American officials.
As the ability of the spy balloons to gather information is not yet perfectly understood, it is not certain if they gather various information from China’s satellites.
However, according to officials, at the very least, the balloons can hover more over a site than a satellite. The balloons appear to be mostly about collecting communications as reconnaissance satellites are often focused on imagery.
Some officials pinpoint that the spy balloon program has been focused on the Pacific region. With the aim of collecting information on U.S. bases and allied military operations.
Only balloons are not used by the Chinese, but they use various other advanced technologies to collect information about the U.S. military and keep surveillance at military bases.
Is this a big deal or not?
Of course Yes.
But it is not as big a deal as an earthquake in Turkey that killed more than 20,000. Nor it can be compared to the war in Ukraine that is set to enter a second year.
However, the spy balloon incident will intensify the bitter relationship between the two most powerful countries on Earth.
What is the plan for recovering debris?
The search for debris is going on by the navy divers since Feb. But the recovery effort is expected to take days. The balloon was recovered very quickly along with some wiring that was floating on the surface of the ocean. But the electronics went down. And the parts of that are scattered across the ocean floor otherwise in the relatively shallow waters off the South Carolina coast.
The recovered materials are handed over to the FBI for further investigation. But how much information can be retrieved from them remains a big question.
What happens next?
The Biden administration is continually giving information about its knowledge of the spy balloon. Bringing to the notice of all the allied and partner nations about China’s surveillance programs.
It is a sign that the US government is trying to use the occurrence to join the allies and convince them that China’s global ambitions could be dangerous for their sovereignty.
Beijing was infuriated over the US decision to shoot the balloon down. And it was described by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as “excessive”. According to China, the balloon was a civilian device for meteorological purposes.
