The military was able to lift a significant part of the debris from the place of fall.
The US military says it has recovered critical electronics from a Chinese spy balloon shot down by a US fighter jet near off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, including key sensors that were likely used to gather intelligence. This is reported by Reuters.
“Crews were able to recover significant debris from the crash site, including all identified priority sensors and electronics, as well as large parts of the structure,” the US Northern Command said in a statement.
The Chinese spy balloon drifted for a week over the United States before US President Joe Biden ordered it shot down. This episode led to a strained relationship between Washington and Beijing. China denies that it is a spy balloon.
After this situation, the US military began to check the sky for other objects that were not detected by radar, which led to the downing of three more objects.
The U.S. military and the Biden administration have acknowledged that much remains unknown about these drones, including how they stay in the air, who built them and whether they could gather intelligence.
Defense Secretary USA Lloyd Austin tried to reassure Americans about the risks posed by these facilities.
“I want to assure the Americans that these objects do not pose a military threat to anyone on earth. However, they pose a risk to civil aviation and a potential threat to intelligence gathering,” Austin said.
The US military says targeting the latest downed objects was more difficult than the downing of the Chinese spy balloon, given its smaller size and lack of traditional radar signatures.
As an example of the complexity, the most recent downing of an unidentified object by an F-16 fighter jet involved two missiles — after one failed to hit the target, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
According to Austin. , the US military has yet to find the wreckage of the last three downed objects, one of which fell off the coast of Alaska. Another object was shot down over the Yukon territory in Canada.
American officials refused to link these incidents. But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the four aerial objects shot down in recent days were somehow connected, without elaborating.
“Obviously there's a pattern here, and the fact that we've seen it to a large extent over the last week is of interest and scrutiny,” Trudeau said.
Also read: Top US, Chinese diplomats may to meet at the security forum
In recent days, the American military shot down four objects over North America. Beijing rejected a request for a closed-door conversation between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and his counterpart on the day the US warplane was shot downa Chinese surveillance balloon.
The United States has said it does not plan to return to Beijing the debris of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon shot down by Pentagon specialists, even after technical experts will complete the analysis of the surveillance capabilities that were on board.
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Representatives of American intelligence believe that the recently shot down over the United States was a Chinese spy balloonis part of a broad surveillance program conducted by the Chinese military.
See Special Topic: US-China Confrontation There is currently no evidence that the three downed objects were used for surveillance — White House At the same time, officials do not rule out such an option. First US, Chinese diplomats to meet at security forum This will be the first diplomatic meeting since the spy balloon incidents. The President of Iran will visit China and meet with Xi Jinping The countries plan to further strengthen ties. A US fighter jet shot down an unidentified object over Canada This incident was the second in two days, and a week ago the US shot down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon. China plans to triple its nuclear arsenal – media The country intends to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads.
