From January 28 to February 4, 2023, the Chinese Communist Party successfully navigated the United States with a big explosive payload. According to media accounts, a massive white high-altitude balloon flown by China was sighted in North American airspace, encompassing Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States.
After a week, the balloon was shot down, and fresh information regarding the balloon’s mission is slowly making its way into the public stream of knowledge.
The US Navy has released photographs of a suspected Chinese spy balloon blasted from the sky by the military. The photographs, which were released on Tuesday, show wreckage from the balloon being loaded into a boat, which will subsequently be transported to an FBI facility for examination.
CNN reported: “On Monday, Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told reporters that the balloon was roughly 200 feet tall and carried a payload weighing more than a couple of thousand pounds. US officials had been tracking the balloon for several days by the time it appeared in the skies over Montana. President Joe Biden said over the weekend that he’d directed the US military to shoot down the balloon as soon as it was safe to do so, but officials said it posed a risk to civilians and property on the ground.”
“[F]rom a safety standpoint, picture yourself with large debris weighing hundreds if not thousands of pounds falling out of the sky. That’s really what we’re kind of talking about,” the general said. “So glass off of solar panels, potentially hazardous material, such as material that is required for batteries to operate in such an environment as this and even the potential for explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon that could have been present.”
“[T]his gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed, and I think you’ll see in the future that that time frame was well worth its value to collect over,” he said.
“US officials also determined that the balloon did not pose a significant risk in its ability to gather intelligence,” the report said.“A senior defense official said last week that the balloon had ‘limited additive value’ from an intelligence collection perspective. Nevertheless, VanHerck said Monday that he and the commander of US Strategic Command took “maximum precaution” to prevent China’s ability to collect intelligence,” it said.
“US NAVY RECOVERS CHINESE SPY BALLOON.” House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) posted on Twitter on February 8, 2023.
US NAVY RECOVERS CHINESE SPY BALLOON. pic.twitter.com/SnqBzZwsvU
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) February 8, 2023
The Pentagon published photographs of the Navy collecting the spy balloon, declaring the mission “accomplished!”
It’s just the balloon. 😂 Where is the rest of it?” 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) posted on Twitter on February 7, 2023.
The Pentagon released these photos of the Navy retrieving the spy balloon, claiming ‘mission accomplished!”
It’s just the balloon. 😂 Where is the rest of it? pic.twitter.com/Yan5rbPdgV
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) February 7, 2023
Carmine Sabia reported for Conservative Brief:
Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command, revealed some chilling details on Monday about the Chinese spy balloon.
During a call with reporters, he revealed that the balloon carried explosives to destroy itself, was 200 feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds, and its payload was the size of a jetliner.
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
“Because the president decided they wouldn’t shoot it down until he could do so safely, and that meant over water, that afforded us a terrific opportunity to gain a better understanding, to study the capabilities of this balloon,” he told reporters on a call. CONTINUE READING…