Chinese Spy Balloon Over Montana
February 2nd, 2023Why not shoot it down?
The senior U.S. defense official noted that not shooting down the balloon is also offering an opportunity for “tracking what abilities it could have.” Though they did not elaborate, it’s also worth noting that surveilling the craft and its payload both visually and electronically at close proximity would be critical to assessing its capabilities. If shot down prior to this, that intelligence could be degraded or lost.
Via: The Warzone:
The U.S. Air Force moved F-22 Raptor stealth fighters into position to be ready to shoot down what American officials say is a Chinese government high-altitude surveillance balloon over Montana. The balloon remains in U.S. airspace after the decision was made not to destroy it, at least for the time being. The Pentagon has downplayed the overall significance of the balloon’s presence and stated that this has happened multiple times before. The latter is new official information as far as we can tell at this time.
…
“We are confident that this high-altitude surveillance balloon belongs to the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” the senior U.S. defense official said. “Currently we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective. But we are taking steps, nevertheless, to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information.”
…
“Clearly they’re trying to fly over sensitive sites,” the senior defense official said. They added that the balloon’s current anticipated flight path takes it over a number of locations of potential interest, but would not specify what those were. It was noted during the press conference that Montana is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base with well over 100 silos holding nuclear-tipped Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles belonging to the 341st Missile Wing.
