A senior member of Congress with access to top-secret intelligence made the following alarming claim: Actively planning the path of the Chinese spy balloon would reveal the locations of the country's most potent and sensitive weapons.
According to the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, the high-altitude surveillance balloon was seen lingering close to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where the United States keeps more than 150 missile silos housing a portion of its land-based nuclear weapons.
China Spy Balloon Shoot Down
Sightings indicate that the balloon also passed through Offutt Air Force Base, which is close to Omaha, Nebraska. US Strategic Command is in command of the nation's nuclear forces and is based in Offutt.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, said Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri also passed it. The B-2 stealth bomber, which can deliver both conventional and nuclear missiles, is housed at the site. The spy balloon did pass over several key facilities, a US official admitted under the condition of anonymity. However, the US does not believe it can gather further information beyond what China currently collects with its advanced spy satellites.
Hans Kristensen, the head of the Nuclear Information Project, claims that even non-military satellites can deliver a respectable image of the nation's nuclear plants. As per NBC News, the nation's recognized nuclear arsenals did not all appear to be visited by the balloon.
At a news conference on Monday, Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD, stated that an explosive ordnance disposal team was scouring the debris field off the coast of South Carolina where a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, an F-22 fighter jet launched a Sidewinder missile at the observation balloon, which weighed a few thousand pounds, was 200 feet in height, and had a payload about the size of an airliner.
Currently, six miles off the shore, a debris area of 1,500 meters by 1,500 meters is dispersed across shallow seas. Along with the USNS Pathfinder, a ship equipped to undertake oceanographic, hydrographic, and bathymetric ocean floor studies, the USS Carter Hall is on the scene classifying debris.
Crewless underwater vehicles were being used by an explosive ordnance disposal squad to "perform some extra categorizing of potential threats like explosives that may be on, hazardous compounds that may be in batteries."
Senior US government sources have told Fox News that when the debris is recovered, it will be sent to an FBI processing center in Quantico, Virginia, where it will be examined. On January 28, the surveillance plane made its first pass over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. However, Gen. VanHerck stated that the balloon was "not displaying hostile behavior or intent," so NORAD delayed taking action.
President Joe Biden has come under intense criticism from Republican legislators for taking days to deflate the spy balloon. Last Wednesday, the president said he intended to shoot the balloon down, but the military informed him that it wasn't safe. The spy balloon will be discussed with the whole Senate on Thursday, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
U2 Spy Planes Used To Monitor Chinese Spy Balloon
The US used U2 spy planes, originally used during the Cold War, to monitor the Chinese balloon, according to the first photos of the F-22 Raptor that shot down the spy balloon. This is in light of claims that earlier sightings of identical balloons occurred at two more highly secret military locations in Virginia and California. However, the intelligence establishment misidentified them as UFOs.
As part of the last week's scramble to evaluate the balloon, the U-2S Dragon Lady espionage planes were used because of their capacity to fly at exceptionally high altitudes. The balloon was at 60,000 feet, while most fighter planes fly between 45,000 and 51,000 in the air. U-2S commonly fly above 70,000 feet.
According to Daily Mail, the U-2S was sent out to keep an eye on the Chinese balloon from above and prevent any data collection from being transmitted.
The U-2S's deployment date and for which portion of the spy balloon's seven-day journey across the US is still being determined. Since its introduction in 1955, single-seat, single-engine aircraft have gained a reputation as the most challenging to fly.
Landing is particularly perilous due to poor sight caused by the large nose of the aircraft, and pilots are required to wear complete pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in California is home to 33 U-2S for the US Air Force.
The Pentagon had verified two additional sightings of spy balloons as the debate over the spy balloon rages on, and Republicans are asking why Joe Biden did not order it to be shot down when it first entered US airspace. The first spy balloon launched by the Biden administration was said to have arrived "early" in his term and flown above the US mainland.
Biden had come under fire from Donald Trump for not shooting it down, although Pentagon officials later claimed that there were other intrusions when Trump was in the White House. He vehemently refuted their assertion, and both his Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, and National Security Advisor, John Bolton, expressed amazement that Chinese surveillance balloons had been flying over the US while they were in charge.
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