Latest objects downed by US were balloons, Senator says
Surveillance fears appear to be keeping US officials on high alert.
Twice within 24 hours, US officials closed the airspace – only to quickly reopen it. On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration briefly closed down space over Lake Michigan. On Saturday, the US military sent fighter jets into Montana to investigate a radar anomaly there.
China denies the first balloon was used for surveillance, saying it was a civilian research vessel. She condemned the United States for shooting her down off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday.
At least two other aircraft have since been destroyed over North America as military and intelligence officials refocused on aerial threats.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC that US officials believe the two most recent objects were also balloons. The original balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4th. A second was shot down Friday over sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. The third was destroyed over the Yukon on Saturday.
“They believe they (balloons) were, yes, but a lot smaller than the first one,” Senator Schumer said.
The White House said only that the recently launched objects were “not very similar” to the Chinese balloon, echoing Senator Schumer’s description of them as “much smaller.”
Senator Schumer said he was confident that US investigators, who were scouring the ocean off South Carolina to recover debris and electronic equipment from the original balloon, would get to the bottom of what it was used for.
Debris in remote locale
Canadian colleagues trying to piece together what was shot down over the Yukon may have their own challenges. The Territory is a sparsely populated region in the extreme north-west of Canada, bordering Alaska. Winter can be brutally cold, but temperatures are unusually mild for this time of year, which could make recovery efforts easier.
Speaking to Fox News, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said the balloon that was launched over the South Carolina coast was on a mission to obtain images of sensitive American nuclear sites.
“They want to get pictures, information about our military capabilities, particularly nuclear,” McCaul said. “And they’re building quite a nuclear stockpile themselves.”
Republican lawmaker Mike Turner, who serves on the US Armed Services Committee, suggested the White House could overcompensate for what he described as its previously lax oversight of American airspace.
“You seem a bit trigger-happy,” Mr Turner told CNN on Sunday. “I would prefer them to be trigger-happy than to be revealing.”
Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for its handling of the incursion of the suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying it should have been shot down much sooner.
Reuters