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Pentagon spokesperson says foreign media about the unusual situation. The US Department of Defense says it is convinced it is a Chinese balloon used for espionage purposes.
Biden wanted to intervene militarily
US President Joe Biden was briefed and reportedly called for military intervention. Fighter jets have reportedly been prepared to possibly fire the balloon into the air, but that has yet to be decided.
The risk of debris falling to the ground is just too great, unnamed sources say foreign media.
Fighter
The US Department of Defense won’t say where the balloon is exactly, but Flightradar shows US fighter jets flying over Montana, a northwestern US state.
US military bases for launching nuclear missiles are located in this region. The Pentagon spokesman said the balloon would fly over “sensitive places”.
According to the American army, there is no danger for the population and commercial aviation is not in danger either because the balloon is at a “very high altitude”. However, Billings Logan Airport was closed yesterday, part of the airspace was also closed.
Local media shares the following images of the balloon hovering over Montana:
The Pentagon spokesman claims that such spy balloons have been spotted over US territory in recent years. In principle, they do not present a great danger, because such a balloon does not necessarily bring more intelligence than with satellites.
What is the advantage of such a ball for the Chinese, therefore, is the question. The US government took immediate action to prevent the collection of sensitive information.
With the drafts
The balloon would have first flown over Alaska and Canada. We don’t know where the ball came from. The Guardian writes that such balloons are difficult to see on radar and can be remotely “controlled” by changing altitude and moving with air currents.
This hot air balloon is only equipped with spy equipment, but bombs can also be hung under it during conflicts.
Visit to unstable China
China has already responded. At a press conference, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls not to speculate until the facts are clear. “We hope both sides can handle the matter calmly and carefully,” a ministry spokesperson said.
“The timing is remarkable,” says correspondent Erik Mouthaan. Especially since US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to go to Beijing, the Chinese capital, in a few days. He would also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping there. It is not clear if the Chinese hot air balloon discovered over the United States changes anything to these plans.
“Relations between China and the United States are already strained, especially because Biden calls China an undemocratic country that tries to impose its opinion on neighboring countries,” Mouthaan explains.
