According to a new report, the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this year before being shot down over the Atlantic ocean acquired information from various critical American military locations as it traveled across the country.
The report claims that the balloon was controlled by China, who maneuvered it to make several passes over certain military sites, sometimes in a figure-eight pattern, all while transmitting the gathered data back to Beijing in real time.
The report cites two current American officials and one former administration official.
According to the three officials, the material that was obtained by China consisted mostly of electronic signals that may have been gathered from weapons systems or base communications.
The officials who were cited stated that the communist nation could have gathered even more intelligence if the Biden administration hadn’t taken actions to move potential targets around in order to disrupt intelligence gathering.
Even though the balloon was able to travel across the country for a week in late January and early February before it was shot down, the officials who were cited stated that the balloon was shot down.
Previously, the State Department admitted that the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the spy balloon had been known.
The balloon passed above the state of Montana, which is home to a silo field for nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
It followed a flight route that would have provided it with the opportunity to gather intelligence at a number of additional critical military facilities.
The Chinese government later tried to claim that the craft was a civilian airship.
On February 4, the United States military utilized an F-22 Raptor equipped with a single air-to-air AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to shoot down the spy balloon that was flying over the Atlantic Ocean.
Following the destruction of the balloon, the United States successfully shot down three further unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Lake Huron, and Canada.
So far there has been no elaboration or explanation from the Defense Department concerning the latter three objects, whose origins and purpose still remain mysterious.
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