Created Wednesday 28 October 2020

See also: Aviation

Loon (Google)

COLLEEN LONG, LOLITA C. BALDOR and ZEKE MILLER - Sun, February 12, 2023 at 7:02 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. fighter jet shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday on orders from President Joe Biden. It was the fourth such downing in eight days and the latest military strike in an extraordinary chain of events over U.S. airspace that Pentagon officials believe has no peacetime precedent.

Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following a spy balloon from China that emerged over U.S. airspace in late January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, said in a briefing with reporters.

Since then, fighter jets last week also shot down objects over Canada and Alaska. Pentagon officials said they posed no security threats, but so little was known about them that Pentagon officials were ruling nothing out — not even UFOs.

“We have been more closely scrutinizing our airspace at these altitudes, including enhancing our radar, which may at least partly explain the increase,” said Melissa Dalton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense.

https://news.yahoo.com/sen-schumer-says-2-downed-150259573.html

Scott Wong - Sun, February 12, 2023 at 6:00 AM PST

WASHINGTON — For several high-profile House committees, their first hearings were dominated by partisan food fights over the Pledge of Allegiance, guns in meetings and a celebrity’s expletive-filled tweet about Donald Trump.

That’s unlikely to be the case with the new select committee on China. Republicans and Democrats on the panel say it could be the one bright spot of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress brimming with partisan bickering.

“If you were looking at a word cloud about this, the biggest one would be ‘serious.’ I hear that from everyone. This is a serious committee, and I believe it,” said one member, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., a former Navy helicopter pilot.

The China committee’s two leaders — Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill. — are setting the tone early, identifying areas where they say they expect to find bipartisan agreement on policy and legislation.

https://news.yahoo.com/serious-committee-lawmakers-high-bipartisan-140000863.html

Haley Britzky, CNN - Updated 5:37 PM EST, Sun February 12, 2023

A high-altitude object was shot down near Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon, marking the fourth time in just over a week that the US military has taken down objects in North American airspace.

On Saturday, an unidentified object was downed over northern Canada, a day after another object had been shot down over Alaska airspace by a US F-22. Last weekend, a Chinese surveillance balloon was taken down by F-22s off the coast of South Carolina.

There’s no indication at this point that the unidentified objects have any connection to China’s surveillance balloon, but it seems that national security officials across the continent remain on edge.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said Sunday that the operation to down the object near Lake Huron was carried out by pilots from the US Air Force and the National Guard.

CNN initially reported that the object was shot down over Lake Huron based on what sources said to CNN and a public tweet by Republican Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan.

The object was first detected by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the US Northern Command over Montana on Saturday night, and fighter aircraft were sent to investigate, a senior administration official told CNN. At the time, those planes did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits, which led NORAD and NORTHCOM to believe it was an anomaly.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/unidentified-object-canada-alaska-military-latest/index.html

US Commerce Department can't just let red balloons go by

Laura Dobberstein - Mon 13 Feb 2023 06:28 UTC

The US Department of Commerce added six more entities to its blacklist on Friday on grounds of national security after an errant Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over the US last week.

The DoC's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) tweeted:

Commerce is adding entities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to Entity List for supporting military modernization, specifically the People’s Liberation Army’s aerospaceprograms including airships, balloons, and related components. More here: https://t.co/yBCgWbfCfP

— BISgov (@BISgov) February 10, 2023

The State Department warned on Thursday it was considering such action. According to an official, the balloon manufacturer had a direct relationship with China's military and was an approved vendor of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

“The PLA is utilizing High Altitude Balloons (HAB) for intelligence and reconnaissance activities,” said [PDF] the Commerce Department in its announcement on the Federal Register.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/13/chinese_balloon_tech_companies_banned/

Gareth Evans & George Wright - BBC News in Washington and London - Mon, February 13, 2023 at 8:56 AM PST

The US military is unsure what three flying objects it shot out of the skies over North America were - and how they were able to stay aloft.

President Joe Biden ordered another object - the fourth in total this month - to be downed on Sunday.

As it was travelling at 20,000ft (6,100m), it could have interfered with commercial air traffic, the US said.

A military commander said it could be a “gaseous type of balloon” or “some type of a propulsion system”.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-military-shoots-down-another-223430774.html

No, there’s not a sudden influx of unidentified objects in the skies above the US—but the government is paying closer attention.

Lily Hay Newman - Feb 14, 2023 8:00 AM

When U.S. government officials in early February identified and eventually shot down a surveillance balloon attributed to China, the prominent acknowledgment of a spy balloon captured public attention and inflamed tensions between Washington and Beijing. But since then, the prospect of the US government intercepting unidentified flying objects has become quotidian, with three UFOs shot down in the past four days—two near Alaska and one over Lake Huron near Michigan. The spree raises the question, are there more UFOs over US airspace than usual, or is everyone just looking more closely?

Researchers say it's the latter, and they note that even before the balloon mania began, the US government tracked many UFOs in its airspace, including a number of balloons. The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a January report, for example, tracking incidents involving UFOs, which the US government calls Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or UAPs. Between March 5, 2021, and August 30, 2022, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office had 247 reports of UAPs. In a wider pool of 366 UAP reports that also includes newly discovered incidents that occurred before 2021, ODNI said that 163 were balloons “or balloon-like entities,” 26 were “Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” or drones, and six were “attributed to clutter.” So, not all UFOs are balloons, and not all unidentified balloons are spy balloons.

https://www.wired.com/story/spy-balloons-ufo-shot-down-us/

CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem says US air surveillance has increased after the suspected Chinese balloon was shot down.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/02/12/canada-norad-shoot-down-object-kayyem-acostanr-sot-vpx.cnn

Sergey Brin’s Pathfinder 1 can now take to the skies

Mark Harris - 25 October 2023

Expect traffic on the 101 highway in Mountain View, California, to be even worse in the days or weeks ahead, as motorists slow down to watch Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s 124-meter long airship Pathfinder 1 launch into the air for the first time.

IEEE Spectrum has learned that LTA Research, the company that Brin founded in 2015 to develop airships for humanitarian and cargo transport, received a special airworthiness certificate for the helium-filled airship in early September.

That piece of paper allows the largest aircraft since the ill-fated Hindenburg to begin flight tests at Moffett Field, a joint civil-military airport in Silicon Valley, with immediate effect.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/lta-airship-faa-clearance

Airships could offer a much cleaner and quieter alternative for some aspects of the aviation market. In a former airship factory, a new generation are taking shape.

Mark Piesing - 21st June 2022

Sergey Brin turned internet search into one of the world’s most valuable businesses more than two decades ago. Now he intends to improve a technology which had its heyday long before he was born.

Brin and his team of engineers' plan is to do this by reinventing a much older, if improved technology. A new generation of airships – the lighter-than-air craft that don't need conventional airports – will be built in a corner of Ohio which played a unique part in the history of aviation. What's more, if built they will be housed in one of America's most iconic structures, the Goodyear Airdock in Akron.

Airships could help speed up the delivery of aid in disaster zones, carry air cargo much more cheaply than air freighters, and cut aviation emissions. However, similar projects in the past have struggled to overcome the complex engineering challenges involved, and have either run out of money, or left potential customers disillusioned.

“Flying an airship is unlike flying any other aircraft because it’s lighter than air and floats, instead of sinks, when you put the power at idle,” says Andrea Deyling, a pilot and director of airship operations of Brin’s airship company, LTA Research. “There’s also a sense of wonder people have when they see a lighter-than-air vehicle flying overhead. LTA Research is building a unique airship and I can't wait to get into the actual aircraft and fly it.”

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220621-the-giant-hangar-poised-for-an-aviation-revolution

Sergey Brin-backed airship startup LTA Research begins flight testing today

Mark Harris - 7 November 2023

As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The airship — its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway — has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.

“It’s been 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” LTA CEO Alan Weston told TechCrunch on the eve of the unveiling. “Now we must show that this can reliably fly in real-world conditions. And we’re going to do that.”

A series of increasingly ambitious flight tests lie ahead, before Pathfinder 1 is moved to Akron, Ohio, where LTA Research is planning an even larger airship, the Pathfinder 3. The company eventually hopes to produce a family of airships to provide disaster relief where roads and airports are damaged, as well as zero-carbon passenger transportation.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/08/the-worlds-largest-aircraft-breaks-cover-in-silicon-valley/

Posted by msmash on Wednesday November 08, 2023 06:40AM from the up-next dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report:

As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The airship – its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway – has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/11/08/1432253/the-worlds-largest-aircraft-breaks-cover-in-silicon-valley

Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali - February 12, 2023 8:59 PM PST

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force general overseeing North American airspace said on Sunday after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects that he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation yet, deferring to U.S. intelligence experts.

Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: “I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything.”

“At this point we continue to assess every threat or potential threat, unknown, that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it,” said VanHerck, head of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ruling-out-aliens-senior-us-general-says-not-ruling-out-anything-yet-2023-02-13/

The U.S. responds to China's accusations that more than 10 surveillance balloons were seen in its air space.

Nikki Main - 13 February 2023

n a statement on Monday, China’s government claimed the U.S. has flown more than 10 surveillance balloons into its air space without permission since last year. The allegations are in response to the Chinese-owned surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a press briefing that it is a “common occurrence” for U.S. high-altitude balloons to fly in China’s airspace and added that it is illegal for the U.S. to “enter the airspace of other countries,” the New York Times reported.

https://gizmodo.com/china-says-u-s-flew-surveillance-balloons-in-air-space-1850107681

February 13, 2023 8:34 AM ET - Emily Feng

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China claimed Monday that the United States flew spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times since January 2022 without Beijing's permission, accusations that further ratcheted up tensions between the two countries amid mutual allegations of surveillance.

U.S.-China relations are already on edge after the U.S. shot down a large, high-altitude balloon on Feb. 4 that it says was set aloft by China and which a State Department official says was part of a “fleet” of Chinese military balloons designed to conduct surveillance. China said the balloon was a civilian airship that drifted astray by accident.

China is now countering U.S. claims more vociferously with accusations of its own. At a regular press briefing on Monday in Beijing, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, claimed that it is “common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace.”

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156488174/china-us-spy-balloons-airspace

U.S. defense officials say that a foreign spy blimp has been spotted hovering over several states.

Lucas Ropek - 2 February 2023

Defense officials claim that a Chinese surveillance balloon has been drifting over the northern part of the United States for the past several days. The balloon is thought to have traveled over a number of different states where sensitive defense installations (read: nuclear silos) are located.

On Thursday, local news outlets in Montana reported that the Pentagon had confirmed that “a high altitude surveillance balloon” is “over the continental United States right now.” Pentagon spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, told multiple outlets that “the U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely. 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.”

https://gizmodo.com/pentagon-chinea-surveillance-balloon-united-states-1850067980

The discovery, coming just days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit Beijing, prompted discussion of whether to shoot down the surveillance system

Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton - February 2, 2023 at 5:34 p.m. EST / Updated February 2, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. EST

A Chinese surveillance balloon has been spotted over the continental United States and scrutinized by the U.S. military for several days, prompting the Pentagon to consider shooting it down, senior U.S. officials said Thursday, a striking development in a time of rising tension between the two world powers.

The balloon is traveling at an altitude “well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters in a hastily arranged news conference where he disclosed the situation. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, continues to track the balloon, but officials would not specify its present whereabouts.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/02/chinese-spy-balloon-pentagon/

The Secretary of State cancelled a trip to Beijing. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a meme. D.C. is obsessed with the “civilian airship.”

Blake Montgomery - 1 February 2023

Late Thursday night, a giant, mysterious balloon floated over the United States, apparently by way of the Pacific Ocean all the way to sensitive air space in Montana.

On Friday, the Chinese government said the floating thing was not a spy balloon—honestly, fair, because the Pentagon said such an aircraft would have little intelligence gathering value—but rather a “civilian airship” meant for meteorological research that had gone way, way, way, incredibly off course.

“The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace due to force majeure,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

https://gizmodo.com/china-spy-balloon-pentagon-marjorie-taylor-greene-tweet-1850072663

It is possible that the balloon's flight termination system failed.

Eric Berger - 2/3/2023, 1:29 PM

On Thursday, US officials confirmed that a high-altitude balloon, launched days ago by the Chinese government, has been flying over the northern United States. This has since become an international incident and led the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to delay a high-profile visit to China to meet with the nation's president, Xi Jinping.

The balloon's flight raises several questions—such as, just what the heck is it doing there? This story will address what is known and not known about the flight. The information below is based on public statements, other news reports, and an interview with a stratospheric balloon expert, Andrew Antonio, whose company, Urban Sky, is developing the world’s first reusable stratospheric balloons for remote sensing.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/why-would-the-chinese-government-be-flying-a-large-stratospheric-balloon/

The suspected Chinese spy balloon that’s been spotted over U.S. airspace in recent days was shot down near the Carolina coastline on Saturday, officials said.

Nicole Darrah·Breaking News Editor - Sat, February 4, 2023 11:46 AM PST

The suspected Chinese spy balloon spotted over U.S. airspace in recent days was shot down on Saturday by an F-22 fighter jet near the Carolina coastline, officials said.

President Biden said he ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday, but national security officials were concerned about the damage it could cause and waited until it was over water instead of land.

“They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,“ Biden told reporters on Saturday, as an operation was underway to recover debris from the balloon — which had been floating at an altitude of around 60,000 feet — in the Atlantic Ocean. A livestream of the balloon showed it deflated and falling toward the water below.

https://news.yahoo.com/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down-off-carolina-coast-194602874.html

Ashley Capoot - Sat, Feb 4 2023 2:16 PM EST / Updated Sun, Feb 5 2023 9:35 AM EST

The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been transiting across the country for several days.

In a statement Saturday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said a U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully brought down the balloon at the direction of President Joe Biden. Lloyd said the balloon was being used by the People’s Republic of China “in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”

Biden gave authorization on Wednesday to take down the balloon as soon as it could be done “without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path,” Lloyd said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/04/us-military-prepares-to-take-down-suspected-chinese-surveillance-balloon.html

Once the object was over the ocean, US jets moved in.

John Timmer - 2/4/2023, 1:27 PM

On Saturday afternoon, US jets intercepted the Chinese surveillance balloon as it was leaving the continental US. Live footage of the event shows contrails of aircraft approaching the balloon, followed by a puff of smoke that may indicate the explosion of some ordnance near the balloon's envelope—a reporter is heard saying “they just shot it” in the video embedded below. The envelope clearly loses structural integrity shortly afterwards as it plunges towards the ocean. Reportedly, the events took place near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Here's video of it being shot down near Myrtle Beach via Katie Herrmann #ChineseSpyBalloon pic.twitter.com/KmT9rL2bR7

— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) February 4, 2023

Shortly afterwards, the US Department of Defense (DOD) released a statement attributed to its Secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, that confirmed the interception was performed by US fighter jets on the order of President Biden. The DOD identifies the hardware as a “high altitude surveillance balloon,” and says that the President authorized shooting it down as early as Wednesday. The military, however, determined that this could not be done without posing a risk to US citizens, either due to debris from the balloon itself, or from the ordnance used to destroy it.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/us-military-shoots-down-chinese-balloon-over-coastal-waters/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 04, 2023 02:30PM

CNN reports:

The US military used fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia to take down the suspected Chinese spy balloon at 2:39 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to a senior US military official. A single missile was used, the official said….

President Joe Biden said the mission to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the East Coast Saturday was successful, and that he had ordered the Pentagon to knock the aircraft out of the sky as soon as it was safe to do so. “On Wednesday when I was briefed on the balloon, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down — on Wednesday — as soon as possible,” the president told reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland. “They decided, without doing damage to anyone on the ground, they decided that the best time to do that was as it got over water … within a 12-mile limit. They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” the president added.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/04/2227235/us-fighter-jets-shoot-down-spy-balloon-with-a-single-missile

The news comes after President Joe Biden said the country was “going to take care of it” early Saturday.

Jody Serrano - 4 February 2023

As of Saturday, the giant white balloon that U.S. authorities claimed was sent over by China to spy on the country is no more.

Amid growing calls to shoot down the alleged spy balloon, the U.S. military did just that and used Air Force fighter jets to dispose of it while it traveled 60,000 feet (18,288 meters) off the Carolina coastline, the Associated Press reported. Videos of the takedown posted on social media show two fighter jets heading towards the balloon in the sky followed by an explosion and a trail of smoke. Bits of debris can also be seen.

https://gizmodo.com/us-military-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-carolina-1850074732

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 04, 2023 01:34PM

That Chinese spy balloon floating over the continental U.S. “generated deep concern,” reports the New York Times — “in part because it came on the heels of a classified report to Congress that outlined incidents of American adversaries potentially using advanced technology to spy on the country.

“The classified report to Congress last month discussed at least two incidents of a rival power conducting aerial surveillance with what appeared to be unknown cutting-edge technology, according to U.S. officials.”

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/02/04/1927207/before-chinese-spy-balloon-classified-us-report-highlighted-foreign-aerial-spying

The “civilian airship,” as China insisted on calling it, was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after crossing the U.S.

Blake Montgomery - 7 February 2023

Last week, an unidentified object appeared 60,000 feet above the ground in Montana. Originating from China, the balloon gave all the appearance of being a spying aircraft.

China’s foreign ministry insisted that the balloon was not meant for spying and surveillance but rather for meteorological observation. Chinese officials called it a “civilian airship” that had strayed far from its original course. The Pentagon rejected China’s explanation, much to the consternation of its Chinese counterparts, though U.S. Defense Department officials took care to say they believed the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the balloon were limited. Washington freaked out. Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a long-planned trip to China amid the fuss over the balloon. A second balloon appeared over Latin America in later days, which China admitted belonged to its government as well.

https://gizmodo.com/china-spy-balloon-navy-recovery-photos-1850084925

Spy balloon effort operates in Hainan province off China’s south coast and has for years collected information on military assets in several countries, officials said

Ellen Nakashima, Shane Harris, John Hudson and Dan Lamothe - February 7, 2023 at 6:44 p.m. EST

The U.S. intelligence community has linked the Chinese spy balloon shot down on Saturday to a vast surveillance program run by the People’s Liberation Army, and U.S. officials have begun to brief allies and partners who have been similarly targeted.

The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to several U.S. officials, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Officials have said these surveillance airships, operated in part by the PLA air force, have been spotted over five continents.

“What the Chinese have done is taken an unbelievably old technology, and basically married it with modern communications and observation capabilities” to try to glean intelligence on other nations’ militaries, said one official. “It’s a massive effort.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/07/china-spy-balloon-intelligence/

The State Department spokesperson said the balloon was capable of collecting communications and data via a satellite and had “multiple antennas.”

Nikki Main - 9 February 2023

We’re learning new information about the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said the balloon was able to collect communications and data via a satellite and had “multiple antennas” in addition to other equipment used “clearly for intelligence surveillance,” Axios reported.

“We know the PRC (People’s Republic of China) used these balloons for surveillance,” the official said, adding, “High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations.”

https://gizmodo.com/spy-balloon-china-chinese-spy-balloon-fbi-1850096208

Posted by msmash on Thursday February 09, 2023 12:00PM

The alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US was capable of collecting communications signals and was part of a broader People's Liberation Army intelligence-gathering effort that spanned more than 40 countries, a State Department official said Thursday. From a report:

High-resolution imagery provided by U-2 spy planes that flew past the balloon revealed an array of surveillance equipment that was inconsistent with Beijing's claim that it was a weather device blown off course, the official said in a statement provided on condition of anonymity. The statement, released before State and Defense Department officials appeared before Congress in open hearings and closed briefings on Thursday, marks the fullest accounting yet for the Biden administration's insistence over the course of a week-long drama that the balloon was meant to spy on the US. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in an interview with CBS News that the Pentagon acted to limit what the balloon could learn about US nuclear capabilities.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/02/09/1946251/chinas-balloon-was-capable-of-spying-on-communications-us-says

Jake Epstein and Christopher Woody - Feb 8, 2023, 8:25 AM

A US Air Force F-22 fighter jet fired a single air-to-air missile at a Chinese surveillance balloon over the weekend, sending the system crashing into the Atlantic Ocean in a moment of heightened tension between Washington and Beijing.

But before the pilot took the shot on Saturday, the US military wasn't sure that the missile would actually work for this specific operation, a top US commander said on Monday.
The F-22, which was operating at an altitude of 58,000 feet, used an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile to take down the balloon, which was hovering between 60,000 and 65,000 feet, a senior US defense official told reporters after the mission.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of NORAD and US Northern Command, told reporters on Monday that he was unsure if the Air Force ever tested an AIM-9 against a balloon target at such a high altitude.

https://www.businessinsider.com/military-didnt-know-missile-that-downed-chinese-balloon-would-work-2023-2

Nikki Main - Thu, February 9, 2023 at 2:15 PM PST

We’re learning new information about the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said the balloon was able to collect communications and data via a satellite and had “multiple antennas” in addition to other equipment used “clearly for intelligence surveillance,” Axios reported.

“We know the PRC (People’s Republic of China) used these balloons for surveillance,” the official said, adding, “High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations.”

The alleged surveillance balloon was recovered from the sea after being shot down and is now at an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia where authorities are analyzing the wreckage to determine what information China had received before it was destroyed. An official told CNN that the FBI had only received debris recovered from the ocean’s surface and included the “canopy itself, the wiring, and then a very small amount of electronics.” Large solar panels were also found on the balloon which government officials say could power “active intelligence collection sensors.”

https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-finds-information-chinese-spy-221500953.html

The skies over North America have seen a remarkable series of events recently, with the U.S. military shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon and other ‘unidentified objects’

James Rogers - Feb. 15, 2023 at 2:01 p.m. ET / Updated: Feb. 15, 2023 at 2:16 p.m. ET

The skies over North America have seen a remarkable series of events recently, with the U.S. military shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon and other “unidentified objects.”

The downing of the balloon has sparked a fierce diplomatic row between Washington and Beijing. Fighter jets have also shot down three other objects over Canada and Alaska.

China’s Foreign Ministry described the balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast as a civilian weather balloon that strayed off course and accused the U.S. of overreacting. Amid escalating tensions, Beijing also accused the U.S. of flying balloons in its airspace for more than a year.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/spy-balloon-incident-was-a-coordinated-effort-to-gather-intelligence-former-norad-operations-director-says-54fb5501

Why did the US use the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to shoot down the Chinese balloon when the same job could have been done with a gun at a much lower cost?

Dario Leone - Feb 14 2023

The AIM-9X Sidewinder missile is a triple-threat missile that can be used for air-to-air engagements, surface-attack and surface-launch missions without modifications.

The weapon is configured for easy installation on a wide range of modern aircraft, including the F-15C Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, E/A-18G Growler, F-22 Raptor and all F-35 Joint Strike Fighter variants. As part of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, best known as NASAMS, AIM-9X adds a short-range layer of defense.

The AIM-9X is the weapons that has been used to shoot down all the unidentified flying objects that violated the North American airspace in the last days, from the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina to the octagon shaped object shot down over Lake Huron.

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/heres-why-the-usaf-f-22-used-the-aim-9x-rather-than-the-gun-to-shoot-down-the-chinese-spy-balloon-and-why-the-sidewinder-dont-need-to-see-something-hot-in-order-to/

Anders Hagstrom - Mon, February 13, 2023 at 11:49 AM PST

President Biden's administration hit former President Donald Trump's administration for failing to detect China's ongoing surveillance balloon program on Monday.

National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby delivered an update on the issue after the U.S. shot down four high-altitude objects over the past week, including China's surveillance balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Kirby noted that China's high altitude surveillance program was operating during Trump's administration, but said “they did not detect it.”

“When President Biden came into office, he directed the U.S. intelligence community to do a broad assessment of Chinese intelligence capabilities and ensure and to ensure that we were working to detect and to protect against them,” Kirby said during a White House press briefing.

“We were able to determine that China has a high altitude balloon program for intelligence collection that's connected to the People's Liberation Army. It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect it. We detected it. We tracked it. And we have been carefully studying it to learn as much as we can,” he added.

https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-hits-trump-admin-194910531.html

Aria Alamalhodaei - 17 February 2023

Earlier this month, a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted over much of the continental United States before an F-22 military fighter jet shot it down off the east coast. The event has put a massive strain on the already fragile U.S.-China relations, with China maintaining that the errant balloon was simply collecting weather data. Shooting down the balloon, Beijing said, was an “overreaction.”

The incident has thrown an unexpected spotlight on stratospheric balloon technology. High-altitude balloons themselves are not new: In fact, there are upwards of thousands of balloons operating in the stratosphere every day, Near Space Labs CEO Rema Matevosyan explained in an interview with TechCrunch. But it’s not every day that one is shot out of the sky, Top Gun-style.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/17/balloon-expert-explains-the-challenges-of-shooting-down-chinas-suspected-spy-balloon/

U.S. officials say Beijing obtained U.S. military intelligence from its spy balloon that was shot down in early February.

Nikki Main - 3 April 2023

U.S. officials confirmed on Monday that the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. in February transmitted sensitive military information to China in real time. The Chinese government continues to claim it was a weather balloon that had blown off course.

Two senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official told NBC News that the balloon collected electronic signals as it flew over multiple military sites, sometimes flying in figure-eight formations. The electronic signals can be transmitted from weapons systems or obtained through communications from base personnel before it was shot down on February 4, officials said.

https://gizmodo.com/china-spy-balloon-military-bases-chinese-1850293627

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday April 08, 2023 12:34PM

Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared this report from NBC News:

The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration's efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official. China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time, the three officials said.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/04/08/0530253/how-much-data-did-the-chinese-spy-balloon-collect

Hannah Getahun - Sat, April 15, 2023 at 10:44 PM PDT

In February, a high-altitude balloon with surveillance capabilities connected to China flew over the continental US before being shot down over the Atlantic.

At the time, much about the balloon wasn't known publicly, but a new trove of Pentagon documents leaked on Discord show it — and up to four other previously unknown spy balloons like it — could have had a feature known as “synthetic aperture radar” that can see through certain objects, the Washington Post reported.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old US National Guard airman, was arrested Thursday in connection to the leaks.

US intelligence agencies believed this because the balloon, which officials named Killeen-23 in an apparent reference to 1940s mobster Donald Killeen, was equipped with the ability to generate up to 10,000 watts of solar power — enough to power a typical home — which could support such abilities.

“The amount of solar power generated by the panels on the Chinese stratospheric balloon that NSA named Killeen-23 is excessive for a weather balloon,” the document reads.

https://news.yahoo.com/leaked-pentagon-docs-show-shot-054446313.html

THE DISCORD LEAKS | One balloon flew over a U.S. carrier strike group in the Pacific, and another circumnavigated the globe with sophisticated surveillance technology

Evan Hill, Cate Cadell, Ellen Nakashima and Christian Shepherd - April 14, 2023 at 6:40 p.m. EDT

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware of up to four additional Chinese spy balloons, and questions lingered about the true capabilities of the one that flew over the continental United States in January and February, according to previously unreported top-secret intelligence documents.

The Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States this year, called Killeen-23 by U.S. intelligence agencies, carried a raft of sensors and antennas the U.S. government still had not identified more than a week after shooting it down, according to a document allegedly leaked to a Discord chatroom by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

Another balloon flew over a U.S. carrier strike group in a previously unreported incident, and a third crashed in the South China Sea, a second top-secret document stated, though it did not provide specific information for launch dates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/14/chinese-spy-balloon-leaked-documents/

An investigation into the Chinese spy balloon shot down in February has reportedly discovered that American technology was used to collect images and data.

Nikki Main - 29 June 2023

The Chinese spy balloon captured images and video surveillance using American technology, U.S. officials reported on Thursday. The balloon, which was shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this year, likely didn’t transmit the information back to the Chinese government based on a preliminary investigation, although the investigation is still ongoing.

In February, the Chinese government denied the balloon was intended for surveillance, claiming instead that it was a weather balloon that had blown off course. But when the U.S. military retrieved the debris, it found technology suited to capture information from the ground including tools that are designed to gather and transmit data.

https://gizmodo.com/american-technology-found-in-chinese-spy-balloon-debris-1850591288

Blasted from the sky in February, device never transmitted photos, videos, or radar data it collected, officials say

Brandon Vigliarolo - Thu 29 Jun 2023 17:03 UTC

It's been months since “spy balloon” fever gripped the United States, but the headline-grabbing flying object – alleged to have been deployed by China – is back in the news. Preliminary findings from the US inspection of its wreckage show a whole bunch of commercially available hardware made in the States.

That in and of itself isn't new info – US officials were briefed in February, shortly after the balloon, shot down off the eastern coast of the US, was recovered, and were told it contained western-made parts with English writing on them.

What is new is the extent to which the balloon was driven by US hardware, which unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal was “crammed” with off-the-shelf components that could have easily been purchased online.

In addition to US-made hardware, the balloon's gondola was also reportedly equipped with specialized Chinese-made sensors as well as equipment capable of collecting photos, videos, radar data and other info for transmission to China. If true, that means China's claims the balloon was an off-course weather monitoring device are, as many assumed, a fabrication.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/29/chinese_spy_balloon_crammed_with/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday September 16, 2023 06:24PM

An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:

China appears to have suspended its surveillance balloon program following a major diplomatic incident earlier this year, when one of the country's high-altitude spy balloons transited the United States, multiple sources familiar with US intelligence assessments told CNN. US officials believe that Chinese leaders have made a deliberate decision not to launch additional balloons since the one over the US was shot down by American fighter jets in February, the sources said. The US has not observed any new launches since the episode occurred… The US intelligence community believes that Chinese Communist Party leaders did not intend for the balloon to cross over the United States, and even reprimanded the operators of the surveillance program over the incident, one of the sources said…

https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/16/2242228/chinas-spy-balloon-program-appears-to-have-been-suspended-us-officials-say

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday September 18, 2023 04:34AM

China appears to have suspended its global surveillance balloon program after a balloon was spotted drifting over the United States in February.

But now an anonymous reader shares this report from CBS News:

Seven months later, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells “CBS News Sunday Morning” the balloon wasn't spying. “The intelligence community, their assessment — and it's a high-confidence assessment — [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon,” he said.

So, why was it over the United States? There are various theories, with at least one leading theory that it was blown off-track. The balloon had been headed toward Hawaii, but the winds at 60,000 feet apparently took over. “Those winds are very high,” Milley said. “The particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude…”

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/17/2143251/was-chinas-spy-balloon-just-blown-off-course

David Martin - Updated Mon, September 18, 2023 at 9:04 AM PDT

It was surely the most bizarre crisis of the Biden administration: America's top-of-the-line jet fighters being sent up to shoot down, of all things, a balloon – a Chinese spy balloon that was floating across the United States, which had the nation and its politicians in a tizzy.

Now, seven months later, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells “CBS News Sunday Morning” the balloon wasn't spying. “The intelligence community, their assessment – and it's a high-confidence assessment – [is] that there was no intelligence collection by that balloon,” he said.

So, why was it over the United States? There are various theories, with at least one leading theory that it was blown off-track.

https://news.yahoo.com/bizarre-secret-behind-chinas-spy-132621162.html

Nearly a year later, Biden administration officials say the threat was exaggerated, but U.S. military officials contend that too little has been done to detect high-altitude spy balloons.

Dec. 22, 2023, 6:18 PM PST - Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee

WASHINGTON — On a Friday evening last January, Gen. Glen VanHerck, the Air Force commander in charge of defending American airspace from foreign intrusion, called President Joe Biden’s top military adviser, Gen. Mark Milley.

U.S. intelligence officials had just notified the general that for roughly 10 days they had been tracking a mysterious — and enormous — object flying over the Asia-Pacific, VanHerck told Milley. The object had crossed into U.S. airspace over Alaska and VanHerck said he planned to dispatch military jets to fly alongside it and assess what it was.

The previously unreported Jan. 27 phone call between Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and VanHerck, the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, set off an eight-day scramble inside the Biden administration. American officials faced an unprecedented challenge: a Chinese spy balloon the size of three school buses flying across the continental U.S.

The spy balloon exposed an increasingly brazen China’s competitive advances miles above the Earth and brought the most critical relationship in the world to one of its lowest points in recent history.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/secret-us-effort-track-hide-surveil-chinese-spy-balloon-rcna130991

An American intelligence assessment found that the balloon used a commercially available U.S. network to communicate, primarily for navigation, U.S. officials say.

Dec. 28, 2023, 3:22 PM PST - Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee

WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. this year used an American internet service provider to communicate, according to two current and one former U.S. official familiar with the assessment.

The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.

The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/us-intelligence-officials-determined-chinese-spy-balloon-used-us-inter-rcna131150

Geoff Brumfiel - Updated February 23, 20234:53 PM ET

It's arguably the greatest selfie ever taken. A pilot aboard the Air Force's legendary U-2 spy plane is looking down at China's alleged spy balloon as it hovers somewhere over the United States.

The photo, taken on Feb. 3 and released by the Department of Defense on Wednesday, has reportedly reached legendary status inside the Pentagon.

But where, exactly, was it taken?

In a world with very few secrets, it's actually possible to answer that question.

The balloon and the U-2 spy plane were just south of the tiny city of Bellflower, Mo., population 325, according to the U.S. Census.

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/23/1159007203/selfie-china-balloon-photo

Despite initial doubts, the Department of Defense confirmed that the jaw-dropping photo with the giant balloon was indeed real.

Jody Serrano - 23 February 2023 7:55AM

In the age we live in, what’s one to do if they suddenly end up next to a giant Chinese spy balloon? Why, take a selfie, of course!

Despite initial doubts, the Pentagon confirmed on Wednesday that a selfie of an Air Force pilot with the first Chinese spy balloon spotted in the U.S. was indeed real. The photo began making the rounds on social media on Tuesday, although rumors of its existence have been around for almost two weeks. According to CNN, the photo has achieved a “legendary” status in both NORAD and the Pentagon.

https://gizmodo.com/selfie-air-force-pilot-chinese-spy-balloon-real-1850149022

Chas Danner, associate editor at Intelligencer - Feb. 17, 2023

Last Saturday, high above Canada’s Yukon territory, the pilot of a $150 million U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, acting on orders from the leaders of both Canada and the U.S., fired a $472,000 AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at a small unidentified cylindrical object flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet, resulting in a confirmed air-to-air “kill.” What NORAD still hasn’t been able to confirm, almost a week later, is what exactly was blown out of the sky on February 11.

Since then, members of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, a club of high-altitude-balloon hobbyists, have been waiting to hear from K9YO-15, the group’s $100 silver mylar “pico” balloon.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/did-an-f-22-blow-up-some-illinois-hobbyists-pico-balloon.html

Kristin Fisher, CNN - 9:59 PM EST, Thu February 16, 2023

(CNN) - An Illinois-based club of amateur balloonists says one of its small balloons is “missing in action” after last reporting its location over Alaska on Saturday, the same day the US military shot down an unidentified object in the same region.

While the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) has not blamed the US government for taking out one of its 32-inch-wide “Pico Balloons,” the group of hobbyists notes in a post on its blog that its last transmission near a small island off the west coast of Alaska occurred after the balloon had been airborne for more than four months and circled the globe seven times.

“Pico Balloon K9YO last reported on February 11th at 00:48 zulu near Hagemeister Island after 123 days and 18 hours of flight,” the NIBBB blog post, dated February 14, states.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/illinois-balloon-group-alaska-missing/index.html

Posted by BeauHD on Friday February 17, 2023 02:00AM

New submitter kalieaire writes:

Steve Trimble of Aviation week reports that a Hobby Club's missing ballon might have been inadvertently targeted as a malicious UFO and subsequently shot down. When Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS) company founder, Ron Meadows, reached out to Gov't resources at the FBI and DoD, they were brushed off. “I'm guessing probably they were pico balloons,” said Tom Medlin, a retired FedEx engineer and co-host of the Amateur Radio Roundtable show. Merlin has three pico balloons in flight in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. According to Trimble, the description of all three UFOs shot down during 2/10-12 match the description of pico balloon models which can be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/17/0045206/usaf-might-be-shooting-down-hobbyist-balloons

Andrew Daniels - Fri, February 10, 2023 at 1:04 PM PST

Updated 4:00 p.m. ET: On Friday afternoon, the U.S. military shot down another unauthorized “high-altitude object” that was flying over Alaska airspace, National Security Council official John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

It was the second time in six days that the U.S. military eliminated a mysterious object, after an F-22 shot down a Chinese spy balloon last Saturday.

Kirby said President Joe Biden gave the OK to shoot down the fast-moving object, which hasn’t yet been identified as a balloon, after the U.S. Department of Defense tracked it over the last 24 hours. “The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” Kirby said. “Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object, and they did.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/breaking-u-military-shoots-down-200700959.html

ZEKE MILLER, COLLEEN LONG and TARA COPP - 10 February 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military fighter jet shot down an unknown object flying off the remote northern coast of Alaska on Friday on orders from President Joe Biden, White House officials said.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the object was downed because it was flying at about 40,000 feet (13,000 meters) and posed a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, not because of any knowledge that it was engaged in surveillance. Asked about the object’s downing, Biden on Friday said only that “It was a success.”

Commercial airliners and private jets can fly as high as 45,000 feet (13,700 meters).

Kirby described the object as roughly the size of a small car, much smaller than the massive suspected Chinese spy balloon downed by Air Force fighter jets Saturday off the coast of South Carolina after it transited over sensitive military sites across the continental U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-shoots-down-unknown-flying-object-175f9078d1df36e392b2956ba771001e

Posted by msmash on Friday February 10, 2023 11:34AM

The Pentagon downed an unidentified object over Alaska on Thursday night at the order of President Biden, according to a U.S. official. From a report:

The U.S. official said it was not confirmed if the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft. Mr. Biden ordered the unidentified object downed “out of an abundance of caution,” the official said. The action comes less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the United States, according to three American officials. The latest breach, officials said, took place Thursday night, over Alaska. One official described it as a “fast-moving” situation that was still developing. It is not clear if the object was from an adversarial power, or a commercial or research operation that has gone astray, the official said.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/10/1934209/pentagon-shoots-down-an-unidentified-object-over-alaska

The White House noted the literal UFO was about 40,000 feet above Alaskan waters and claimed it posed a “reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight.”

Lauren Leffer - 10 February 2023 4:30PM

White House officials have confirmed that the U.S. military shot down a “high-altitude object” over Alaska on Friday. The aircraft is the second that the Department of Defense has targeted in recent days, after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was brought down on Saturday.

In an afternoon press briefing, White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator, John Kirby, provided more (yet still scant) details on the object and the operation to get it out of the U.S. airspace.

https://gizmodo.com/spy-balloon-china-pentagon-high-altitude-object-ufo-1850100688

Steve Trimble - February 16, 2023

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.

But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf

Thomas Mackintosh, BBC News - 11 February 2023

Another unidentified object has been shot down over North American airspace, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed.

He said the latest object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over Yukon in north-west Canada.

Both Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track down the object which Mr Trudeau says was taken out by a US F-22 fighter jet.

It is the third object to be shot down over North America in the last week.

The American military destroyed a Chinese balloon last weekend, and on Friday an unspecified object the size of a small car was shot down off Alaska.

Mr Trudeau confirmed on Saturday he gave the order and had spoken with US President Joe Biden.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64614098

Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) - 1:55 PM · Feb 11, 2023

Officiel du gouvernement - Canada

I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object. Thank you to NORAD for keeping the watch over North America.

https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau/status/1624527581331554306

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he and President Biden had ordered the object violating Canadian airspace to be taken down, a day after another object was shot out of the sky near Alaska.

Helene Cooper - Feb. 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — An American fighter jet, acting on the orders of President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, shot down another unidentified flying object on Saturday, Canadian and American officials said, in the latest installment of the drama playing out in the skies of North America.

“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Mr. Trudeau said in a statement posted on Twitter. He said an American F-22 with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is operated jointly by the United States and Canada, downed the object over the Yukon Territory.

As with the object that Mr. Biden ordered shot down near Alaska on Friday, officials said they had yet to determine just what had been blasted out of the sky over the Yukon, which borders Alaska.

Mr. Trudeau said he had spoken with Mr. Biden on Saturday afternoon. “Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object,” he said in his Twitter post.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/us/politics/unidentified-object-canada-alaska-pentagon.html

Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Steve Scherer - February 11, 2023 8:50 PM PST / Updated February 11, 2023 9:04 PM PST

WASHINGTON/OTTAWA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canada on Saturday, the second such instance in as many days, as North America appeared on edge following a week-long Chinese spying balloon saga that drew the global spotlight.

Separately, the U.S. military also scrambled fighter jets in Montana to investigate a radar anomaly that triggered a brief federal closure of airspace.

“Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate the radar hits,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-still-gives-no-details-about-alaska-ufo-new-object-seen-over-canada-2023-02-11/

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 11, 2023 06:34PM

CNN reports:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that an “unidentified object” had been shot down by a U.S. fighter jet over Canadian airspace on his orders…. “Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Trudeau said on Twitter….

A statement from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the object shot down on Saturday was first noticed over Alaska on Friday evening. Two F-22 fighter jets “monitored the object” with the help of the Alaska Air National Guard, Ryder's statement said, “tracking it closely and taking time to characterize the nature of the object.”

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/12/0231252/us-shoots-down-a-third-unidentified-object-flying-over-canada

February 16, 2023

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now confirmed to have been 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico' balloon.

One part of the amateur radio hobby is launching high altitude balloons with various radio and other payloads. Larger amateur radio balloons launched in the USA require FAA clearance, need a radar reflector attached, and usually continually transmit APRS telemetry before naturally popping and falling back to earth after a few hours, just like a weather balloon.

However there is also the simpler 'pico' ballooning hobby, which involves the launch of small solar powered payloads that are only a few grams in weight. They typically transmit low power WSPR on HF and only whenever there is sufficient solar power available. Amateur radio stations around the world can pick up these transmissions, and report them on amateur.sondehub.org and/or wsprnet.org.

While considered 'pico', these balloons can still be roughly a meter in size on the ground, potentially expanding to the size of a car at high altitudes due to the low atmospheric pressure. These balloons can be launched from anywhere in the world and due to their tiny payload, there is no FAA clearance required to launch them in the USA. Well built balloons can totally circumnavigate the globe several times over several months before degrading.

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/the-us-airforce-may-have-shot-down-an-amateur-radio-pico-balloon-over-canada/

OSINTdefender - 5:11 PM · Feb 11, 2023

The F-15s were in fact launched from Portland Air National Guard Base and not McChord.

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1624576868140679168

The Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) - 4:40 PM · Feb 11, 2023

Waiting for the official boundary to be posted, but a NEW TFR has been issued near #Havre, MT.

It is labeled as national defense airspace until further notice.

https://twitter.com/IntelCrab/status/1624569071583854596

Reuters Staff - February 11, 2023 5:12 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said late Saturday it has closed some airspace in Montana for Defense Department activities.

The FAA issued a notice barring flights in an area about 50 by 50 nautical miles around Havre, Montana, near the Canadian border and classifying the area as “national defense airspace.”

The FAA declined to say if it was in relation to another balloon or another object. The FAA issued similar actions in response to a suspected Chinese spy balloon that crossed the continental United States from Montana to South Carolina and was shot down earlier this month. (Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by Deepa Babington)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-object-montana-idUSL1N34S008

Matt Rosendale (@RepRosendale) - 5:23 PM · Feb 11, 2023

I am in direct contact with NORCOM and monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border. Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic — the DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning.

https://twitter.com/reprosendale/status/1624579901608034306

An object shot down over the Great Lakes on Sunday may have been the same one seen over Montana the day prior.

Bryant Clerkley (KGW) - 6:39 PM PST February 13, 2023 / Updated 9:20 PM PST February 14, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. — Three different unidentified flying objects were shot down over North America this weekend — one over Alaska, another over Canada and one over Lake Huron near Michigan. That's not including the Chinese balloon shot down last week.

On Sunday, President Biden ordered an unidentified object be shot down with a missile by U.S. fighter jets over the Great Lakes above Michigan.

It was believed to be the same one tracked over Montana and monitored by the government the night before. There was a reported scramble of F-15 fighters out of Portland when the object was tracked over Montana.

Josh Hovanas is the Commander of the 123rd Fighter Squadron of the Oregon Air National Guard.

https://www.kgw.com/article/life/portland-fighter-jets-take-down-object/283-84eaa2ad-806b-4cc1-b61c-6c1d1b4eb91a

Defense officials on Sunday night declined to identify what the three objects shot down over the weekend might be.

Paul McLeary, Olivia Olander, Lara Seligman and Alexander Ward - 02/12/2023 10:14 AM EST / Updated: 02/12/2023 08:47 PM EST

The U.S. military shot down an unidentified object flying above Michigan on Sunday, making it the fourth airborne object downed by American forces in just over a week.

Defense officials on Sunday night declined to identify what the three objects shot down over the weekend might be, raising questions over the threat the objects could have represented to civilians across North America, what the purpose of the objects was, and why there has been a rash of detections and responses with fighter planes and guided missiles.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, said he was certain that the initial episode, the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon off the U.S. East Coast on Feb. 4, “was clearly a balloon. These are objects. I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft.” The general also declined to rule out any possibility, including whether the objects were extraterrestrial in origin.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/12/intel-mike-turner-china-balloons-00082451

Lauren Sforza - Sun, February 12, 2023 at 7:45 PM PST

Lawmakers are calling for more answers after the United States military shot down another unidentified aerial object on Sunday – the third object shot down in three days.

“There’s been space junk, weather balloons, spy balloons, and military advancements for years. All of sudden world super powers are shooting unidentified objects down. This looks like a testing of military prowess,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted after the latest object was shot down over Lake Huron Sunday afternoon.

“Lack of evidence and briefings are extremely noticeable,” she added.

U.S. officials confirmed in a press briefing Sunday that the military took down an unidentified aerial object, which was first spotted Saturday, because it posed a threat to civilian aviation.

It was the third such incident since President Biden ordered a suspected Chinese spy balloon to be taken down off the Carolina coast last Saturday.

https://news.yahoo.com/calls-answers-grow-4th-aerial-034536195.html

Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali - Sun, February 12, 2023 at 7:45 AM PST

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. military fighter jets on Sunday shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said, the latest incident since a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon put North American security forces on high alert.

It was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a U.S. missile in a little more than a week.

U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is tasked with safeguarding U.S. airspace, told reporters that the military has not been able to identify what the three most recent objects are, how they stay aloft, or where they are coming from.

“We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” VanHerck, head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command, said.

VanHerck said he would not rule out aliens or any other explanation. “I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out,” he said.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-airspace-over-lake-michigan-154537665.html

Rep. Jack Bergman - 12:28 PM · Feb 12, 2023

I’ve been in contact with DOD regarding operations across the Great Lakes region today.

The US military has decommissioned another “object” over Lake Huron.

I appreciate the decisive action by our fighter pilots.

The American people deserve far more answers than we have.

https://twitter.com/RepJackBergman/status/1624868047780515841

It's the latest in a string of such incidents.

Luis Martinez, Justin Fishel, Josh Margolin, Martha Raddatz, Molly Nagle, and Tal Axelrod - February 12, 2023, 4:44 PM

Another high-altitude object was shot down Sunday afternoon, this one over Lake Huron in Michigan, three U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News, marking the latest in a string of such incidents.

The object was shot down by a U.S. military aircraft, according to one of the officials.

A senior administration official said President Joe Biden directed that the object be shot down “out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of military leaders.”

This official said the object shot down was detected on radar over Montana on Saturday and was seen again on radar over Wisconsin and Michigan on Sunday.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/military-shoots-high-altitude-object-lake-huron-officials/story?id=97068247

The U.S. and Canada are investigating three unidentified flying objects shot down over North America in the past three days. Militaries have adjusted radars to try to spot more incursions.

By Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Edward Wong - Feb. 12, 2023 / Updated Feb. 13, 2023, 1:05 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON — If the truth is out there, it certainly is not apparent yet.

Pentagon and intelligence officials are trying to make sense of three unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan that U.S. fighter jets shot down with missiles on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The latest turn in the aerial show taking place in the skies above North America comes after a helter-skelter weekend involving what at times seemed like an invasion of unidentified flying objects.

The latest object had first been spotted on Saturday over Montana, initially sparking debate over whether it even existed. On Saturday, military officials detected a radar blip over Montana, which then disappeared, leading them to conclude it was an anomaly. Then a blip appeared Sunday over Montana, then Wisconsin and Michigan. Once military officials obtained visual confirmation, they ordered an F-16 to shoot it down over Lake Huron.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/12/us/politics/us-shoots-down-object-michigan.html

Melissa Nann Burke, Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News - 3:58 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2023 / Updated 12:09 a.m. ET Feb. 13, 2023

An F-16 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object Sunday over Lake Huron on the U.S. side of the border with Canada that flew over Michigan and other parts of the country, the fourth incident over North American airspace during the past eight days, prompting one lawmaker to call the situation “disturbing.”

The object had passed over Wisconsin, Lake Michigan and the Upper Peninsula before it was shot down about 15 nautical miles east of the U.P. in Lake Huron, Pentagon officials said Sunday night. Once hit, they said, the object drifted and likely landed in Canadian waters in the lake, where the Coast Guard and others are working to recover it.

“This object flew over Michigan and other parts of the country,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, who represents part of the northern Lower Peninsula, in a statement. “I hope it will quickly be recovered and identified with more information made available to the public as soon as possible. I will continue to be in contact with officials at the Department of Defense to help ensure Michigan residents are safe.”

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/02/12/object-decommissioned-over-lake-huron-michigan-airspace-closure/69897024007/

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday February 12, 2023 04:24PM

The U.S. military shot down another high-altitude object Sunday, reports CNN — this one flying

“The operation marks the third day in a row that an unidentified object was shot down over North American airspace.”

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said Sunday that the operation to down the object over Lake Huron was carried out by pilots from the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard…. The object was flying at 20,000 feet over Michigan's Upper Peninsula and was about to go over Lake Huron when it was neutralized, a senior administration official told CNN on Sunday.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/12/2318206/us-military-shoots-down-fourth-flying-object-near-michigan

Ed Pilkington - Sun, February 12, 2023 at 3:01 PM PST

The US military shot down a fourth flying object over North American airspace in a week on Sunday over Lake Huron in Michigan, confirmed the state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

“I’m glad to report it has been swiftly, safely and securely taken down,” she said.

The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile launched by F-16 fighter jets, it had been flying across the Great Lakes region at 20,000ft, a height that could have posed a risk to civilian aircraft.

The Pentagon said the object appeared to have traveled near US military sites and posed a threat to civilian aviation, as well as being a potential tool for surveillance.

The US air force general overseeing North American airspace said the object likely fell in Canadian waters.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-military-shoots-down-fourth-213744781.html

Oren Liebermann, Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Arlette Saenz, Phil Mattingly and Haley Britzky, CNN - Updated 8:10 PM EST, Sun February 12, 2023

(CNN) - A US F-16 fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron on Sunday afternoon at the direction of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon said.

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the object was not assessed to be a military threat, but it was a flight hazard.

“We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground, but assess it was a safety flight hazard and a threat due to its potential surveillance capabilities. Our team will now work to recover the object in an effort to learn more,” Ryder said.

Melissa Dalton, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, echoed that sentiment Sunday night, telling reporters the objects were taken down out of an “abundance of caution.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/lake-huron-high-altitude-object/index.html

A pair of legislators proposed a bill to mandate tracking devices on all high-altitude balloons both in U.S. airspace and abroad.

Nikki Main - 15 March 2023

Two U.S. Senators proposed legislation on Wednesday that would track all balloons in the nation’s airspace in the wake of four balloons shot down last month, including one identified as a Chinese surveillance balloon. The proposal was issued by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Sen. Ted Budd (R-North Carolina) to ensure that all balloons can be identified and enable the military to discern between potential and non-potential threats to U.S. security, Reuters reported.

The lawmakers introduced the bipartisan Seeing Objects at Altitude Regularly (SOAR) Act which would mandate that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) equip all high-altitude balloons that are 10,000 feet above sea level with a tracking system to relay the balloon’s altitude, identity, and location. According to the proposed legislation, if passed, the FAA would be required to provide tracking access to “air traffic controllers, aircraft, and other users of the National Airspace System.

https://gizmodo.com/spy-balloon-china-weather-balloon-congress-1850229718

A Japanese startup is trying to make space more accessible but its design for a stratospheric balloon flight looks more like an amusement park ride.

Passant Rabie - 23 February 2023

Balloons are so hot right now, and not just the ones getting shot down by military jets. A startup in Japan wants to send people to the edge of space using a helium-filled balloon, and to do so affordably, but the chosen passenger cabin leaves much to be desired.

Japanese company Iwaya Giken unveiled its small, round cabin during a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. The plan calls for a helium-filled balloon to lift the two-seater to the middle portion of Earth’s atmosphere, from where the darkness of space is visible. Iwaya Giken is hoping to make this offering available by the end of this year, the Associated Press reported. Sounds nice, but the tiny plastic ball that is the crew cabin resembles those slingshot rides that get catapulted into the air at local fairs.

https://gizmodo.com/you-couldnt-pay-me-ride-japanese-space-balloon-1850149600