Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No, It’s a Chinese Spy Balloon!

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abcnews.go.com

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/chinese-spy-balloon-surveilling-us-senior-official/story?id=96860718

Gabriel Molina, Writer

Throughout the month of February, the US faced a number of objects flying in its airspace such as the notorious Chinese spy balloon. Panic arose among Americans as they witnessed the balloon fly across the US, and government officials scrambled to forge a plan to neutralize this balloon. However, the distress would grow among Americans as they experienced more objects flying in the air in the coming week.

The Chinese spy balloon incident began on January 28, 2023 ,when China’s surveillance balloon flew into U.S. airspace near Alaska before it would eventually fly over to the continental U.S. After the balloon arrived above the continental U.S., the Defense Department said it would track the balloon’s course, and that the balloon had been over Montana. Eventually, on February 4th, the balloon was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

The spy balloon’s height was around 200 feet tall, which is comparable to the size of the Statue of Liberty. According to CBS News’ Caitlin Yilek, government officials spoke out and stated, “It had collection pod equipment, including high-tech equipment that could collect communications signals and other sensitive information, and solar panels located on the metal truss suspended below the balloon” (Yilek).

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/politics/pentagon-china-balloon-selfie/index.html

Later on, three more unidentified objects were spotted over U.S. and Canadian airspace. On Friday, Feb. 10, U.S. officials shot down what they claimed as a “high-altitude object” off the coast of Alaska. To add on, an unidentified object was shot down in Canadian airspace the next day, and the U.S. military took down another ominous object spotted over the Great Lakes region that Sunday, Feb. 12.

During a briefing that night, the Defense Department stated that these objects were threats due to their path and proximity to sensitive Defense Department sites, and the altitude at which they were flying could be considered as dangerous to civilian aviation. Search teams were assembled to find the debris of these objects, but attempt after attempt the US failed to find any debris of these objects. They were simply too difficult to recover due to them sinking to the ocean floor, and searches were called off on February 17th.

Overall, February has been a very strange and peculiar experience. From the Chinese spy balloon to three unidentified objects invading the skies of America, it has raised many questions and sparked debate. Maybe these unidentified objects were flying alien saucers preparing to begin invasion upon Earth, or maybe they were just more balloons. Either way, no one knows exactly what those objects are, but if aliens were to ever come it seems as if we are prepared to fight.