It all started on February 2, when the Pentagon announced that it was following a balloon flying at high altitude over United States territory. A few hours later, Washington is certain: it is a Chinese spy balloon, which entered American territory several days ago. Beijing replies that it is a civilian aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological. But the Americans do not believe it and the tensions between China and the United States are only increasing.
A balloon and three unidentified flying objects
Two days later, on February 4, the American army, in collaboration with Norad, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, shot down this balloon off the coast of South Carolina. Then on February 10, Washington announced that it had shot down an “object” flying at high altitude over Alaska. “We don’t know who owns it, whether it’s a state or a company or an individual. […]. And we don’t understand its use at this time,” said a White House spokesperson.
The next day, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that an “unidentified object” flying over northwestern Canada had been shot down, as part of a joint operation between Washington and Ottawa. On Sunday, a fourth object was shot down over Lake Huron in the northern United States. The Pentagon said none of these four objects appeared armed or posed a threat of attack. One certainty, the first object, detected on February 2 and intercepted on February 4, was a balloon, while the other three objects were smaller with a different shape, without however being identifiable.
A sign of the ambient uncertainty, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre thought it necessary to specify, during her daily briefing on Monday, that the American authorities had “no indication of extraterrestrials or extraterrestrial activities “. Because speculation is rife. For the rest, the American executive has above all let it be known that it knows nothing, through the voice of John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council, attached to President Joe Biden. “We’re not sure whether or not they had surveillance capability, but we can’t rule it out,” he said of the “objects” shot down Friday over the Alaska (northwest), Saturday over the Yukon in northwestern Canada, and Sunday over Lake Huron in the northern United States.
Different looks and sizes
The Chinese balloon was about 60 meters high and carried a kind of huge basket weighing more than a ton, according to the Pentagon. Its size would be comparable to that of three buses. A senior US State Department official said the device had “numerous antennae, a set likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications”, and was “fitted with solar panels large enough to provide power. necessary for the operation of multiple sensors collecting intelligence”.
The next two objects were about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, according to US and Canadian officials. Unlike the Chinese balloon, the second object did not appear to have a propulsion system or controls allowing it to steer, according to the White House. The third was a “cylindrical device”, according to Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand. He was shot in the Yukon, about 160 kilometers from the Canada-US border. As for the fourth, it was “octagonal” and “without an apparent nacelle”, indicated a senior administration official.
The second and third aircraft flew at an altitude of about 12,000 meters, and the fourth at 6,000 meters. According to the authorities of both countries, they all posed a possible threat to the safety of civilian flights.
The United States admitted on Monday February 13, 2023 that it had still not identified the three mysterious flying objects that it had shot down in recent days.
© / SOPHIE RAMIS, JULIA HAN JANICKI, NALINI LEPETIT-CHELLA / AFP
Debris still under examination
The American authorities are still busy harvesting the remains of the Chinese balloon in the Atlantic, near the coast of South Carolina, using planes, boats and small submarines. An official from the FBI, the agency responsible for examining them, recently indicated that only a “small part” of the surveillance equipment had been recovered. These remains floated on the surface of the ocean, he said, but most of the equipment, including the large solar panels, sank to a depth of 14 meters.
Debris from the object shot down over Alaska fell on frozen waters near the Canadian border, the White House said. Regarding the third object, the Canadian forces “will now recover and analyze the debris”, according to Justin Trudeau. The Pentagon said Sunday that American and Canadian teams were preparing an operation to try to recover the fourth object.
Objects shot down after an adjustment of the control radars
The three objects downed since Friday were detected after US Air Defense adjusted radar settings to look for smaller, slower-moving objects, Deputy Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton said. “In light of the People’s Republic of China balloon we shot down last Saturday, we have taken a closer look at our airspace at these altitudes, including strengthening our radar, which may explain, at least in part, the increase in the number of objects we have detected over the past week,” she told reporters. She said the authorities were aware that there are drifting objects at such altitudes operated in the air by research institutes and private companies. “But since we had not been able to definitively assess what these recent objects are, the President wanted to proceed with an excess of caution to protect our safety and our interests,” she added.
These events have added to the tension between China and the United States, and a visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was postponed last week. Republican lawmaker Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of the US Congress, accused China on Sunday of an “act of belligerence” in connection with the balloon shot down on February 4.