Red balloon over Montana

[TheGreenAnger]

The Pentagon has said it is tracking a Chinese spy balloon flying over the US but decided against shooting it down for safety reasons.

Defence officials said the balloon had been watched since it entered US airspace at high altitude a couple of days ago. It has been monitored by several methods including crewed aircraft, and has most recently been tracked crossing Montana, where the US has silo-based nuclear missiles.

As a precaution, flights from Billings Logan airport were suspended on Wednesday.

A balloon, believed to be a Chinese spy balloon, flies in the sky over Billings, Montana, on 1 February 2023 in this picture obtained from social media.
Spy balloons: what are they and why are they still being used?
Read more
The Chinese government has not confirmed if it owns the balloon, and state-backed media have used the incident to taunt the US.

“The balloon itself is a big target,” the state-backed nationalistic tabloid the Global Times wrote in English on Twitter, which is banned in China. “If balloons from other countries could really enter continental US smoothly, or even enter the sky over certain states, it only proves that the US’s air defence system is completely a decoration and cannot be trusted.”

On Friday afternoon, China Daily said the spy balloon claims were a lie. “To spy on the US with a balloon, one must both fall far behind to use a 1940s technology and be advanced enough to control its flight across the ocean. Those fabricating the lie are only exposing their ignorance,” it said.

After the Pentagon’s announcement, Canada’s national defence department said it too had detected a high-altitude surveillance balloon and was “monitoring a potential second incident”. US officials said earlier that the balloon had travelled over part of Canada on its way to Montana.

Canada’s defence authorities made clear there was no public danger, adding: “Canada’s intelligence agencies are working with American partners and continue to take all necessary measures to safeguard Canada’s sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats.”

The Pentagon said: “The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the US government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”

The incident comes just before the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was expected to visit China this weekend to meet the president, Xi Jinping. The trip has not been formally announced, but Beijing and Washington have been talking about his imminent arrival.

Blinken’s visit, amid bilateral attempts to repair relations, has also coincided with other points of friction. Beijing this week strenuously objected to a deal between the Philippines and the US in which Manila has granted the US expanded access to its military bases. Under the deal, the US will have additional access to Philippine bases for joint training, storing equipment and supplies, and building facilities, though not to establish a permanent presence.

Analysts have said the deal fills a crucial gap in US military positioning in the region, enhancing its ability to monitor the South China Sea and around Taiwan. Both are significant areas of concern regarding Chinese military activities. On Thursday, China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson accused the US of “exacerbating regional tension and jeopardising regional peace and stability” with the deal.

There was intense speculation among analysts on Friday about how China might explain the spy balloon. A senior US defence official said the US had “engaged” with Chinese officials through multiple channels about the seriousness of the matter.

A spokesperson for China’s ministry of foreign affairs said Beijing was “verifying” the situation. “I would like to emphasise that until the facts are clarified, speculation and hype will not be helpful to the proper resolution of the issue,” Mao Ning told a daily press conference.

Mao said China had no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any country, and that the government hoped to handle the matter with the US “calmly”, according to state media.

Pentagon officials said there was “high confidence” that the balloon was Chinese, and that Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation. The president asked for military options, but it was decided there was too great a danger of debris harming people on the ground were it to be shot down.

It was also judged that although it was flying over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana, it did not appear to be gathering any intelligence that could not be collected from satellites.

Montana is home to one of the nation’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom air force base. All air traffic was halted at Montana’s Billings Logan international airport from 1.30pm to 3.30pm on Wednesday as the military readied fighter jets and provided options to the White House.

Congressional leaders were briefed on Thursday afternoon. The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, later tweeted: “China’s brazen disregard for US sovereignty is a destabilising action that must be addressed.”

The Montana governor, Greg Gianforte, said he was briefed on Wednesday about the situation after the state’s national guard was notified of an ongoing military operation taking place in its airspace.

The object first flew over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and Canada before appearing over Billings on Wednesday, officials said.

Military experts say the use of high-altitude balloons is likely to increase. They are cheaper than spy satellites, are hard to spot by radar and difficult to shoot down, sometimes lingering for days after they have been punctured. They can “steer” by changing altitudes, using computers to calculate how to use winds going in different directions at different layers of the atmosphere. As well as surveillance, they could also carry bombs in times of conflict.

In 2019, the US military used up to 25 experimental solar-powered high-altitude balloons to conduct wide-area surveillance tests across six midwestern states. The balloons were equipped with hi-tech radars designed to simultaneously track many individual vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather, and were intended to be used to monitor drug trafficking and potential homeland security threats.

Tensions with China are high on issues ranging from Taiwan and the South China Sea to human rights in China’s western Xinjiang region and the clampdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong. Other irritants are China’s tacit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its refusal to rein in North Korea’s expanding ballistic missile programme, and ongoing disputes over trade and technology.

Some Montana residents reported seeing an unusual object in the sky during the airport shutdown, but it is not clear if what they were seeing was the balloon.

From an office window in Billings, Chase Doak said he saw a “big white circle in the sky” that he said was too small to be the moon. He took some photos, then ran home to get a camera with a stronger lens and took more photos and video. He could see it for about 45 minutes and it appeared stationary, but Doak said the video suggested it was moving slowly.

“I thought maybe it was a legitimate UFO,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure I documented it and took as many photos as I could.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... py-balloon

[TheGreenAnger]

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Let me know if 98 more red balloons appear. Then I might start to be concerned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY

[TheGreenAnger]

Let me know if 98 more red balloons appear. Then I might start to be concerned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY

Ah another Nena fan.

[TheGreenAnger]

Why don't they just fire a dart at the bloody thing, and bring it slowly back to earth rather than looking at it doing its ELINT thing?

[4mastacker]

Job for an Able Archer?

[k3k3]

...but not the 1983 version.

[TheGreenAnger]

I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square....

[PHXPhlyer]

China says balloon over Montana is for research, accidentally strayed

https://www.abc15.com/news/national/chi ... ly-strayed

China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that a balloon the U.S. suspects of conducting surveillance was a civilian “airship” used for research, mainly meteorological purposes.

The statement said the airship has limited steering capability and “deviated far from its planned course” because of winds.

It said China regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace.

The Pentagon decided not to shoot down the balloon, which was potentially flying over sensitive sites, because of concerns of hurting people on the ground.

The news came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to make his first trip to Beijing this weekend.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China has “no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country” and urged calm while the facts are established.

Blinken would be the highest-ranking member of President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China, on a mission to mitigate a sharp downturn in relations between the countries amid trade disputes and concerns about Beijing's increasingly aggressive stance toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

PP

[TheGreenAnger]

Research!

Sounds a bit like a voyeur saying he was "researching" his neighbour's wife!

SIGNT/ELINT etc. is a form of research, some may even call it spying!

[TheGreenAnger]

Blinken ain't going!

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that a balloon the US suspects of conducting surveillance was a civilian “airship” used for meteorological research.

Beijing said the airship is unmanned, has limited steering capability and “deviated far from its planned course” after being blown of course.

It said China regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace.

The Pentagon had been tracking the balloon as it made its way over the northern US, a further strain on already tense relations between Washington and Beijing.

While defence officials have said the balloon’s current flight path carries it over “a number of sensitive” military sites, President Joe Biden is believed to have decided against shooting it out of the sky due to risks of falling debris.

On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to China after Beijing claimed ownership of the surveillance balloon.

Mr Blinken had been set to meet senior Chinese officials in Beijing for the first time this weekend.

On Friday, Donald Trump led calls from a group of Republican lawmakers to shoot the airship from the sky.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 74997.html

[TheGreenAnger]

I am surprised they haven't shot it down, or safely deflated it (in diplomatic speak).

It is currently an embarrassment (3 buses worth of embarrassment) to the Biden administration due to its visibility to the press and public, akin to a large dog turd on one's carpet that one doesn't clean up.

[llondel]

I'm wondering if they're waiting for an opportunity to bring it down intact and examine what it's carrying. To me, that would be the main reason for not just vaporising it if they're sure it's not picking up sensitive information. Then, if it's harmless, they can make a great show of returning it to China and asking them to be a bit more careful next time.

[G-CPTN]

I am surprised they haven't shot it down, or safely deflated it (in diplomatic speak).

Can they reach the balloon with a ballistic weapon?

[TheGreenAnger]

I am surprised they haven't shot it down, or safely deflated it (in diplomatic speak).

Can they reach the balloon with a ballistic weapon?

Judging by the footage I have seen, I doubt that that balloon is higher than flight level FL550!

Easily punctured by the most modest of modern combat aircraft!

[TheGreenAnger]

I'm wondering if they're waiting for an opportunity to bring it down intact and examine what it's carrying. To me, that would be the main reason for not just vaporising it if they're sure it's not picking up sensitive information. Then, if it's harmless, they can make a great show of returning it to China and asking them to be a bit more careful next time.

Yes that is a reasonable synopsis. We shall see, I guess!

[PHXPhlyer]

Heard on report of ~FL600.
Wouldn't a U2 (not Bono or The Edge) be able to take a relatively close look and snap a few piccies?

PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Any fighter can get up there for a quick snap.

[boing]

1. The US could have shot down this balloon as soon as it was detected and no country in the World would have thought that this was unreasonable.

2. The excuse that they have not done so because of potential damage on the ground is as credible as the Chinese claim that the balloons flight path is an accident.

3. The US would prefer to show the equipment on the balloon intact and spread out nicely over several tables with the obvious messages that a) it is going to be dissected for intelligence purposes and b) we were capable of capturing the balloon intact.

4. So how do you capture a balloon, the controlled leak suggestion seems the most workable although this makes the exact position of impact less predictable. It may be that arranging for the balloon to make a relatively low speed descent into water is the best plan since this may reduce impact damage.

5. If the balloon contains explosives, as in a self-destruct charge, this could be interpreted as an act of war. The plan may be to auto-deflate the balloon over the ocean and allow it to plunge at high rate into the water but this assumes many variables.

6. The US would dearly like to show the captured balloon on the 6 o'clock news, let's see.

.

[G-CPTN]

Apart from 'the size of three buses' I cannot find any plausible detail dimensions.