Chinese balloon capable of gathering intelligence – US officialon February 9, 2023 at 4:09 pm

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that the US shot down this week was able to collect communications signals, a US official has said.

It was equipped with multiple antennas capable of “intelligence collection operations”, a senior State Department official said in a background briefing.

The US believes the balloon is part of a wider fleet of surveillance balloons that has spanned five continents.

China has denied the balloon was used for spying purposes.

It has said the balloon was a weather device blown astray.

Its appearance in US airspace has provoked a diplomatic crisis and led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to China – the first such high level US-China meeting there in years. The US military used a fighter jet to shoot the balloon down over the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend.

China has said the decision to shoot down the balloon was “irresponsible” and did not “create a proper atmosphere for dialogue” between the two countries.

The US Navy is still recovering debris from the balloon in the Atlantic Ocean. 

High resolution images revealed the balloon – which was about 200 ft (60 metres) tall – had large solar panels capable of operating “multiple active intelligence collection sensors” as well as antennas that were able to collect and geo-locate communications, the senior State Department official said on Thursday.

“We know [China] used these balloons for surveillance,” the official said.

“The high-altitude balloons’ equipment was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on-board weather balloons.”

The balloon manufacturer also had a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved state military vendor, the official said

The US is considering taking action against groups linked to the Chinese government that were involved in the balloon’s flight, they added.

US intelligence, military and foreign policy officials are briefing members of Congress on Thursday about the balloon.

At a Wednesday news conference, Defence Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder confirmed that the US believed similar balloons had operated over North and South America, South East Asia, East Asia and Europe.

The US believes the balloons have operated over US territory on at least four occasions, a separate official said earlier this week.