Spy balloon: Hobbyists say $12 pico balloon may have been shot down by US as Biden rules out China
US president makes ‘no apologies’ for shooting down Chinese surveillance balloon
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A group of amateur balloonists has revealed that a pico balloon – which cost as little as $12 – may be among the three unidentified aerial objects shot down by the US military.
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade told Aviation Week that one of its research balloons last signalled its position on 10 February off the coast of Alaska, putting it on track to float towards Canada’s Yukon territory the next day. It was deemed “missing in action” on 15 February.
On 11 February, the US military shot down an object over Alaska – one of three unidentified objects downed that weekend.
In a speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden said that the three objects were “most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions” and that “nothing right now suggests that they were related to China’s spy balloon program”.
Mr Biden said that the US military raised its radar sensitivity levels “to pick up more slow-moving objects above our country and around the world” in the days after the Chinese spy balloon flew over North American airspace.
The president said he makes “no apologies” for shooting the spy balloon down off the coast of South Carolina.
Biden outlines four measures to monitor US airspace after balloon incident and flying objects
President Joe Biden has directed his administration to implement four measures to have a better understanding of what exactly is in the air, how to regulate their launch, and to create “global norms” for what he called “largely unregulated” airspace.
The measures include an inventory of unmanned flying objects that is “accessible and up to date,” better detection of unmanned objects in North American airspace, and updated rules and regulations for launching unmanned objects.
President Biden also announced on Thursday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead an effort to help “establish common global norms in this largely unregulated space.”
“These steps will lead to safer and more secure skies for our air travelers, our military, our scientists and for people on the ground as well,” Mr Biden added.
America’s guidelines for shooting down objects won’t be made public, Biden says
The Biden administration will not make public any future parameters for determining whether to blow something out of US airspace, the president said on Thursday.
He said such information will be shared with members of Congress – many of whom have criticised the administration for not quickly sharing with them more information about the balloon and shot-down objects – but those rules will not be released publicly.
The president said sharing that information would provide a “roadmap to our enemies to try to evade our defenses.”
Full story: Shot-down objects are not linked to China but posed risk to air traffic, Biden says
In his first public remarks on the issue, President Joe Biden echoed findings from White House and military officials that suggest a trio of objects shot down by US fighter jets are not from China but were launched by private companies or research groups.
They are not linked to a suspected Chinese espionage program responsible for a larger airship that traveled through US airspace earlier this month.
Expanded radar capabilities have revealed smaller, slower-moving ojects that previously were filtered out, which likely put the latest objects on the military’s literal radar while the administration was on high alert after the Chinese surveillance balloon incident.
Biden says shot-down objects probably not China-linked but posed risk to air traffic
President says the objects shot down last week were most likely ‘balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions’
A hobbyist group is worried that an F-22’s Sidewinder missile destroyed its research balloon
The “Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade” is worried that a small, globe-trotting balloon was fired out of the sky by a US military heatseeking missile.
The Illinois-based hobbyist club declared its balloon “missing in action” on 15 February, according to Aviation Week.
The group fears that its balloon was one of three struck down by US fighter jets armed with Sidewinder missiles above North American airspace in recent days.
A “pico balloon” reported its last position on 10 February at 38,910 feet off the west coast of Alaska, projected to be floating towards the central Yukon territory of Canada on 11 February – the same day that a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor jet fired a Sidewinder missile at an unidentified object flying at about 40,000 feet in the same area after tracking it from Alaskan airspace.
White House: China is ‘trying to spin’ balloon incident as US aims for open lines of communication to build on relationship
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Chinese authorities of “deflecting, coming up with excuses, and trying to spin” the appearance of a surveillance balloon over the US, as officials in China continue to insist that it was a civilian craft that drifted off course.
“At the end of the day, their surveillance balloon was indeed in our airspace,” she told reporters on Thursday. “The American people, the entire world, saw what China did and it’s irresponsible.”
She said that the administration’s approach with China “is going to be calm, resolute and practical”.
“We’re going to keep our airways, our communications line open, as they have been before … and after,” she added. “It is up to China how they want to move forward with this relationship … Are they going to build on that and show it’s something they’re willing to do? And that’s on them.”
White House on Chinese sanctions against US military contractors: ‘Symbolic’ and ‘unncessary’
China announced on Thursday sanctions against two US military contractors – Lockheed Martin and Raytheon – over arms sales to Taiwan.
It is not immediately clear how those sanctions will impact the manufacturers of key defense equipment, including fighter jets and missiles. The US already bars weapon technology sales to China.
China also announced sanctions against the companies last year following the announcement of a $100m arms sale.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Peirre called the latest sanctions “symbolic measures and unnecessary.”
Was a $12 balloon shot down by the US military?
A group of amateur balloonists has revealed that a pico balloon – which cost as little as $12 – may be among the three unidentified aerial objects shot down by the US military.
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade told Aviation Week that one of its research balloons last signalled its position on 10 February off the coast of Alaska, putting it on track to float towards Canada’s Yukon territory the next day. It was deemed “missing in action” on 15 February.
On 11 February, the US military shot down an object over Alaska – one of three unidentified objects downed that weekend.
Ron Meadows, the founder of a company in Silicon Valley in California – Scientific Balloon Solutions – which makes pico balloons, told the outley that he tried contacting US officials “to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are”.
“They’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” he said.
In a speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden confirmed that the three objects were “most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions” and that “nothing right now suggests that they were related to China’s spy balloon program”.
Shot-down objects may have been up there for some time, defense secretary explains
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged that a series of objects shot down by American fighter jets above North America may have been there for some time, as the US military tweaks its radars to better capture what’s in its airspace after the balloon incident.
He told NBC News that the military “opened the aperture” of radars and is analysing data differently, echoing other military officials who have recently explained how such filiter tweaks are bringing in all kinds of newer raw data that would have otherwise been filtered out as clutter in the past.
President Biden also addressed the radar developments in his remarks on Thursday.
“We typically are focused on things that are moving fast, and so it’s a bit more difficult to collect on slow-moving objects like a balloon,” Mr Austin said.
He said that officials do not know how frequently such objects have appeared in US airspace. “We’re learning a lot more about that,” he added.
Mr Austin said that no one claimed ownership of the objects.
Taiwan recovers remnants of likely Chinese balloon that crashed on remote island
Taiwan said it found the wreckage of a suspected Chinese weather balloon after observing an unknown object falling from the sky.
Taiwan’s army said they spotted an unidentified object drifting in the sky above Dongyin island, a Taiwanese-controlled part off China’s coast at around 11am local time on Thursday.
The island nation dispatched a team to investigate the crashed balloon, defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters on Friday.
Read the full story here:
Taiwan recovers remnants of likely Chinese balloon that crashed on remote island
Balloon has information written in simplified Chinese characters used on mainland
‘Sky trash’ or ‘research’ balloons? Why unidentified objects wound up on the US military’s expanding radars
They could be “sky trash”, “benign” weather balloons, “balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” or any number of other objects.
But the objects that were shot down above North American airspace in recent days are likely not from China or used for surveillance by any other country, according to officials and analysts.
Why did they wind up on the US military’s radar?
We explain:
Did China launch the other objects shot down by American fighter jets?
The White House says there’s no evidence they came from China’s sprawling surveillance programme. Recent changes to radar and a military on high alert could offer some clarity
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