![]() Nestled among these silos are clusters of cell phone towers operated by a small rural wireless carrier. These Minuteman III rockets are capable of delivering nuclear warheads at least 6,000 miles away and are part of the US Strategic Command, which oversees the country’s nuclear and missile arsenal. Outside Malmstrom Air Force Base in central Montana, spread across 13,800 square miles of open plains, more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles stand at the ready, buried deep underground in missile silos. “Balloon payloads can now weigh less, and so the balloons can be smaller, cheaper and easier to launch” than satellites, Layton said. Recent advances in the miniaturization of electronics mean the floating intelligence platforms may be making a comeback in the modern spying toolkit. Since then, the US has used hundreds of them to monitor its adversaries, said Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and former Royal Australian Air Force officer.īut with the advent of modern satellite technology enabling the gathering of overflight intelligence data from space, the use of surveillance balloons had been going out of fashion. Using balloons as spy platforms goes back to the early days of the Cold War. ![]() What’s less clear is why Chinese spies would want to use a balloon, rather than a satellite to gather information. Why the US hasn't shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, according to officials (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP) Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette/AP airspace for a couple days, but the Pentagon decided not to shoot it down due to risks of harm for people on the ground, officials said Thursday. is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over U.S. US officials have said the flight path of the latest balloon, first spotted over Montana on Thursday, could potentially take it over a “number of sensitive sites.” They say they are taking steps to “protect against foreign intelligence collection.”Ī high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. While the suspected Chinese balloon spotted in the skies above multiple US states this week prompted an uproar from Republicans and Democrats alike, it is not the first time this kind of activity has been observed.Ī US official said Friday there had been similar incidents over Hawaii and Guam in recent years, while another official on Thursday said, “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration.” Here’s what we know about how China spies on the US: But Chinese officials say a similar thing – Beijing has in the past repeatedly accused the US of espionage.Ĭhina denies that the balloon currently above the US is involved in any kind of espionage, claiming it is a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes” that has been blown off course. US officials say Beijing uses every tool at its disposal to gain a strategic advantage over the United States, its primary geopolitical rival. Still, American officials have sought to distinguish US actions from what they say is the more brazen espionage being carried out by the Chinese government. What to know about the suspected Chinese spy balloon February 1, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media. A balloon flies in the sky over Billings, Montana, U.S.
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