The United States Government says it is tracking a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States. The balloon is over Montana.
The balloon is traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground, the Pentagon said.
The path of the balloon took it over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and through Northwest Canada. It would have to have crossed over mainland Alaska, with NOAA backward projections offering the idea that it cross into Alaska over the near the Nome or Kotzebue area, and went across Interior Alaska, before entering Canada air space.
“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” the Pentagon said.
The government considered shooting it down but was concerned the debris could hit people on the ground or damage property.
“We did assess that it was large enough to cause damage from the debris field if we downed it over an area. We had been looking at whether there was an option yesterday over some sparsely populated areas in Montana. But we just couldn’t buy down the risk enough to feel comfortable recommending shooting it down yesterday,” the senior Defense official said. “So, beyond that, though, I can’t really go into the dimensions. But there have been reports of pilots seeing this thing, even though it’s pretty high up in the sky. So, you know, it’s sizable.”
The Defense official said the balloon is clearly for surveillance and its flight path has carried it over “so clearly the intent of this balloon is for surveillance. And so the current flight path does carry it over a number of sensitive sites.”
The military believes that whatever the surveillance payload is on this balloon, “it does not create significant value added over and above what the PRC is likely able to collect through things like satellites in Low Earth Orbit.”
The department has taken preliminary mitigation steps and said that this is not the first time a spy balloon has crossed over the continental United States.
“It has happened a handful of other times over the past few years, to include before this administration,” the official said, adding that this time it is appearing “to hang out for a long period of time this time around, more persistent than in previous instances. So that would be one distinguishing factor.”
The military says it doesn’t pose a threat to aviation and it doesn’t posed much of a security threat. Because of that, taking the risk of downing the balloon and hurting people on the ground is not worth it. The risk of shooting down a China spy asset could prompt the People’s Republic of China to shoot down American aircraft in the South China Sea.
The transcript of the Pentagon briefing is at this link.
The War Zone — was a high altitude airship spotted in the South China Sea?
Biden and co remind me of Humphrey Bogart’s character in Cain Mutiny.
Demented, paranoid, and (my favorite) “old yellow stain”.
Hell, even Obama said it. Never underestimate Joes ability to F things up.
Biden derangement syndrome in full effect with the Mask man.
You’re not smart enough to spar with me.
But try. That’ll be cute.
I don’t need to spar with you. I don’t need to make comments on this site to prove anything. You attack anyone that has a different opinion than you and that speaks more to your intelligence than anything I can say.
Biden Dementia Denial Syndrome in full effect with mindless radical leftist sheep like Matt.
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Let’s Go BAAA-BAAA-BAAA-den!
You make me laugh out loud with your commentary. It is a great from of entertainment. Please keep it coming!!!
Likewise, radical leftist Matt.
Fear not my fellow countrymen. NORAD has an airmen 2nd class stationed in Delaware with his finger on the button.
Airmen has strict orders to push the garage door opener button if the baloon gets into visual range of the corvette.
Our secrets are safe.
At least Joe doesn’t have a secret Chinese bank account.
That we know of……
Who needs a bank account with the ccp when Hunter pays his dad directly from the bribe money?
You may have missed El Jefe’s point that Trump has Chinese bank accounts.
El Jefe, And neither does anyone else, heck if Joe Biden is smart enough to not put his Chi-Com bribe money in one of their banks! What is your point?
A side note in the interest of accuracy, the Air Force reorganized ranks in 1967 changing Airman Second Class to just Airman.
Another great reason and justification to increase our military presence and infrastructure in AK907.
At any point from the moment it entered US air space, exited US airspace, and then reentered US airspace it has maybe been over anywhere that would have caused damage on the ground for 0.01% of the that time had they shot it down. Did we let Canada know they had a spy balloon overhead, they don’t have the technology to shoot it down since muskets don’t shoot that high, but at least they could have hidden their Tim Horton’s or all the huge jars of rapeseed oil (canola oil).
Track it until it goes out over the ocean. Shoot it down over U.S. waters.
Shoot it down!
Lmao that’s a classic? Open the garage door for a Zeppelin? Or Trojan horse!
Good grief Scott, try to catch up with modern times.
Thats an ‘air-people’.
Strap a Sidewinder or Sparrow on a Cessna 185 and let some student pilot have a free shot. Or, it could be done by lottery. A lot of private pilots need a little target practice.
Just the weather balloon. Yeah we’ve heard that one before. It actually kind of reminds me of the balloons the Japanese sent over on the jet stream with little explosive devices on them during world war II. They were quite a bit smaller than these are and didn’t do any harm except for one person that tried to pick it up or touch it or something and they get killed. I would definitely take this opportunity to shoot it down with one of our ray guns that we currently have in orbit. That would be good practice.
It was over Montana on Wednesday. They say it has deviated from its original course because of a change in the wind direction. This thing is the size of three city buses as reported. I doubt it’s full of nerve gas or anything like that. The Chinese are probably just testing the waters. This isn’t the first one that they’ve sent over there has been several over the past years. Probably propaganda.
Right, China can’t get enough propaganda to American’s over the internet so they need propaganda balloons? Wake up. China is probing America’s vulnerabilities. Specifically how America responds to real UFO’s along with balloon delivered viruses and emp warfare. They are lining they ducks up in case they need to go that way.
Right, China can’t get enough propaganda to American’s over the internet so they need propaganda balloons? Wake up. China is probing America’s vulnerabilities. Specifically how America responds to real UFO’s along with balloon delivered viruses and emp warfare. They are lining their ducks up in case they need to go that way.
That one actually killed several people from a family on a picnic. Some others were injured.
hey greg its John Bouker. Good to hear you. they should have smoked it before it got to Alaska. Damage has already been done
Thousands of illegal aliens coming across the border a day and we’re worried about a foreign air spy balloon above typical airline flight paths ~38,000-40,000 feet? Federal Fiscal Year 2021 Oct. 1, 2021-Sept. 30, 2022 “[ILLEGAL ALIEN] Migrant border crossings in fiscal year 2022 topped 2.76 million, breaking previous record” ‘https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/migrant-border-crossings-fiscal-year-2022-topped-276-million-breaking-rcna53517
Only 1 year, 9 months, 3 days until we boot Biden out of office. Heaven help us until then.
OMG… what if the balloon’s full of illegal aliens?
Too bad there’s no remote places in Alaska to shoot it down…or a radar system in place to detect it well before it enters Alaskan airspace.
I wonder if this balloon was sent up by the Chinese to spread the latest genetically-engineered bioweapon virus? Covid-23?
Something is fishy, about not shooting it down. Lying Biden is hiding something. If his lips are moving he is lying. What has he said that’s true lately? There was and is plenty of opportunity to shoot this down.
Seems to be self propelled so calling it a balloon would be improper. And sizable enough to cause damage. Not a weather balloon. Maybe shooting it down is the desired effect, so a new biological weapon can be released, one that can’t be carried by humans. Wonder what the target is, and with the tracking shown, how it was allowed to enter our airspace.
Powdered fentanyl payload… interesting concept.
Something is fishy about it not being noticed the entire time it was over our state. Something is fishy about us not doing something about it then.
Manda, yes something is very fishy, note the flight path of the “Balloon”, it follows the prevalent upper atmosphere wind currents. These are the same wind currents that have brought Manchurian Dust Particles to Alaska since the dawn of agriculture in that region, (measured in ice cores) and today deposit heavy metal pollution in Alaskan Watersheds. This pollution comes from Chi-Com owned Industrial Factories.
What? They are afraid that shooting it down over the northern Alaskan interior would hurt people on the ground? What? They don’t have the ability to snag it? What? This has happened before? We recall the response we got during WW II when Japanese balloon bombs came drifting over … silence. Or when a Japanese sub shelled a refinery … merely an “industrial accident”. This is all damage control. Or, indicates treason from within the military or another mark against the current traitors running the gov’t.
In the interests of air safety the balloon shouldn’t be shot down – it should be captured and held. Let the Chinese get upset and then see what happens.
Is it okay to ask why America has an Air Force if they’re so afraid to shoot down stuff?
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Seems strange… America’s ready to shoot stuff down in Ukrainian airspace, debris fields be damned, even to start World War III with Russia, but the Communist China… Bill Walker’s pals, Biden’s buddies, don’t want to annoy them by shooting down their intruders into American airspace, do we?
Key US military defense sites on or near the indicated trajectory include Fort Greeley outside Delta Junction home of the defense missle system and Malmstrom AF base in interior Montana part of the offensive (?) missle system- top security bases!!
Big deal. We got what matters in orbit.
Biden and NATO are doing their best to start WW III by supplying Ukraine, a non NATO nation, first with ammo, then rifles, then anti tank stingers. Now stepping up to more and more sophisticated heavy weapons such as last months Abrams Tanks. Next will be F16s for air cover. Last step American troops.
China has now covered Russia’s flank with a nuke/EMP device floating over America’s polar ice cap missile defensive silos.
Biden, the Communist Demorats and woke generals have brought the war to the American homeland. I hope you are prepared.
WHY IS THIS THING NOT SHOT DOWN YET!?!?!?
This should have been shot down 30 seconds after it entered our airspace. Then go retrieve the payload and see what they were up to. The absolute worst outcome is if the chinese retrieve the payload.
Joe Biden has a money deal with the chinese. We saw the evidence with his boy hunter. Nothing else explains why our military has not shot down an obvious spy platform sitting for DAYS over US territory.
I don’t know what the attached photo with all the Chinese chickenscratching has to do with this story, but the object show in that photo is NOT a balloon, it is a motorized airship. So is THAT what is in the air over the Lower 48 states? And if so, how has it NOT been intercepted and/or shot down yet?
Are there ways to capture the balloon??? What could they be?
Our U.S. gov’t is currently inept. They DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever you do, purchase Mike Pompeo’s book DON’t GIVE AN INCH. Our country has currently inept governance. Of course Biden is brain dead. OBAMA is still enjoying his inept Presidency. Heed Good Americans!!!! Our country is being shredded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Biden et al. assume this to be a surveillance balloon, but that is a fool’s assumption. It is possible it might carry or could be used to carry some weapon (biological, chemical, EMP, etc.) that could be deployed while passing over our country. Such weapon may not be onboard the current or past balloons, but China could be training the US to ignore such vehicles, to be used with a weapon in the future, and the US government will act with complacency instead of aggressive vigilance, resulting in exactly what China wants, a sneak attack on America on its own soil, that may disrupt our energy or transportation infrastructure, or contaminate our food and/water. The US government should shoot these balloons down before crossing our borders or over essentially unpopulated areas, and if possible, inspect each to understand their source, use, and potential uses.
No biggie. Just Communist China flying over America taking aerial photographs of the 190,000 acres of prime American farmland it owns.
A couple of the replies have mentioned possible scenarios for the future. It turns out that there have been many more “balloons” than what was first reported. Updated reports say that this activity has been going on for some time. This could easily point to possible virus activity in future flights, or even emp activity. If so, we are all in a world of hurt. As for the governors of the affected states being informed, if the Montana Governor is the example, the feds did not inform him until the “balloon” was well on its way out of Montana. Last updates had the “balloon” in the Midwest. Recommended action: Shoot it down and inform China that their “balloons” are not welcome here. Anything less is inviting trouble in the future.
Big question in all this is precisely what has NORAD been doing? You remember, the joint US – Canadian air defense operation. Balloon enters US airspace Jan at an altitude around FL 600 (relatively low for a high altitude balloon). Spends 3 days over AK and then enters Canadian airspace where it flies over at least 3 provinces. No reportage of it until it is over Montana, where its presence can no longer be ignored or denied.
Remember that we here in AK regularly know about intercepts of Chinese vessels and Russian aircraft. Yet dead silence on a CCP balloon. My guess is that NORAD was told to stand down by the Biden regime with the full and complete support of Trudeau’s Canadian regime. This thing was big enough to see, slow enough to target, and big enough to exploit once we got it on the ground. Yet all we get is silence and excuse making from the Usual Suspects. Why is that? Cheers –
That balloon should have been shot down immediately upon entering U.S. airspace to prevent it from gathering intelligence. No threat? You’re got to be kidding. The only way to know if it’s a threat is for the U.S. to know everything China has and we don’t.
What if China has 10,000 biological warfare balloons just waiting for the strategic wind current data this “no threat” balloon is gathering? Once they know the natural air current path of a balloon to America they will be able to drop any bug they have directly on North America without the airlines. Nobody will know where it came from.
What will the US do? Blast them and spread their bugs all over North America? Now we need Alaskan balloon boarder guards for biohazard balloons from China and Russia? Blow them out of the sky immediately!
There are lots of big questions. NORAD obviously knew about it immediately. Why didn’t we shoot it down in the Bering Strait? Why didn’t Canada shoot it down? Another military/government cover-up? And the media may be complicit in keeping the public in the dark. It’s hard to believe China was not knowingly spying. Why we would let them is another question. Do we know if they have developed some new hacking technique or some new sensor ray or maybe some way of disarming our missiles? Let’s hope the military hasn’t underestimated China’s ability. Perhaps China wanted the balloon shot down as an excuse for an increase in military action. What better time than when the US is sending a lot of military equipment to Ukraine? Hold on to your hats!
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