China Releases Spy Balloon Over United States East Coast

On January 28th, a massive air balloon was first identified in United States air space flying over Alaska. Immediately, the military attempted to determine whether the balloon posed a safety risk to US citizens.

After resolving that the balloon was not dangerous, the military realized the balloon was used for spying, and it came from China. The balloon had surveillance cameras and was predicted to fly over important US military bases in order to collect intel.

Interestingly, this was not the first balloon to fly over the United States. In the last six years, four balloons have been spotted in the US, and others over countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.

NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) received backlash for not shooting the balloon down before it had the chance to travel all the way to the coast of South Carolina. According to Seligman and Stein, “Command Chief Gen. Glen VanHerck and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley recommend against targeting the balloon over land due to the risk to civilians from the falling debris.”

The debris could have fallen inside a seven-mile radius (Seligman and Stein), so the repercussions of shooting down the balloon while it was over US land, was not worth it.

Ultimately, the balloon made it all the way to the east coast. Once it was safely over US water (off the coast of South Carolina), the military deemed it safe to shoot down. Seligman and Stein reported that on February 4 th , “At 2:39 pm, the F-22 flying at 58,000 feet shoots a single AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile that takes down the balloon, which is flying at an altitude of 60,000 to 65,000 feet.”

Many videos surfaced the internet after this, showing the balloon being shot and slowly falling from the sky and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Now, there is a fear of retaliation from China for destroying their balloon. They had claimed it was a “weather balloon”, but military intellect quickly proved the balloon’s purpose was to spy on crucial United States military bases.

In the end, the positive factor is that since the balloon was spotted right away, the government made sure the surveillance did not capture any important US data. But, on the other hand, the country now fears that China will release retaliation.

But one thing is true: China breached American sovereignty. Now NORAD faces the responsibility of closely monitoring our airspace and protecting us from any further breaches or attacks.

Source:

“Timeline: A Chinese Spy Balloon’s Trip across the United States.” POLITICO,
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/05/timeline-a-chinese-spy-balloons-7-day-trip-across-the-
united-states-00081222.