Reports say that the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US earlier this year and was shot down by the military was full of ready-made American tech.
The high-altitude balloon was filled with American technology that helped it take pictures, videos, and other data. This was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which cited US officials who knew the preliminary results of an FBI probe.
Three US sources who were familiar with the investigation’s results told NBC News that the Biden administration thought the balloon might have been filled with parts made in the US soon after it was found.
In February, a US Air Force F-22 fighter jet shot down a balloon off the coast of South Carolina. The device had flown for more than a week over Alaska, Canada, and the US. Divers from the US Navy then pulled pieces of the huge balloon out of the Atlantic Ocean so they could be looked at.
The tweet below verifies the news:
The Chinese spy balloon shot down by the US military was rife with off-the-shelf, American-made technology: reports https://t.co/X3VvLhsvHa
— Insider Military and Defense (@insidermildef) June 30, 2023
Officials told The Wall Street Journal that the balloon gathered data as it flew over the US and Canada, but that information did not seem to be sent back to Beijing.
On Thursday, however, the Pentagon said that the Chinese balloon did not gather information as it flew across the country.
“We think [the balloon] didn’t collect anything while it was passing through or flying over the United States,” Pentagon spokeswoman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters, according to CNN. “Our efforts definitely helped.”
Officials from China have said that the downed balloon belonged to China, but they have claimed over and over that it was just a weather balloon that got off track.
“China has said many times that the unmanned Chinese civilian airship that was drifting over the US was a mistake that was completely out of the blue and was caused by forces beyond their control. “It is a lie to say that it was a “spy balloon” that gathered information,” Mao Ning, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Friday.
Click on the following links for more news from the California Examiner:
- The Facts Behind the Murders of Three Brothers in Ohio
- A Student Who Was S*xually Attacked by a Teacher at a Vadnais Heights Charter School Will Get $325,000
Get ahead of the curve by accessing breaking news and insightful articles on californiaexaminer.net – start exploring today!
