The Pentagon Claims a Chinese Surveillance Balloon Has Been Floating Over the U.S. for Days

Defense officers declare that a Chinese surveillance balloon has been drifting over the northern a part of the United States for the previous a number of days. The balloon is assumed to have traveled over a variety of totally different states the place delicate protection installations (learn: nuclear silos) are positioned.

On Thursday, native information shops in Montana reported that the Pentagon had confirmed that “a high altitude surveillance balloon” is “over the continental United States right now.” Pentagon spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, informed a number of shops that “the U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely. The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

Ryder additionally informed information media that the authorities had “acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” however didn’t in any other case clarify what motion was taken. NBC studies that F-22 Raptors from Nellis Air Force base have been despatched to analyze the balloon however that officers wouldn’t say whether or not the balloon might be shot out of the sky or not. Other shops have reported that the Pentagon has really useful not capturing down the balloon.

A video briefly trended on Twitter that purported to indicate proof of the surveillance balloon. In the video, a man factors his digital camera telephone at what appears to be like like a fuzzy, immobile dot in the sky. “What the heck is that? That’s not the sun!” the man exclaims, helpfully.

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An area information outlet in Billings, Montana—the place the balloon is alleged to have been noticed quite a few occasions—revealed a picture of the mysterious, orb-like object:

Others merely resorted to Goodfellas jokes:

This is unquestionably a bizarre one. The incident comes at a time when the U.S. and China are having a little bit of a tense second. In an effort to counter China’s affect in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. not too long ago initiated an settlement with the Philippines that permits for larger cooperation and a greater deployment of U.S. army personnel in the area. Americans officers have additionally regularly expressed alarm at China’s elevated actions in the South China Sea. Secretary of State Antony Blinken can be scheduled to head to China in a couple of days on a diplomatic go to.

The U.S. has reportedly “engaged” China about the blimp incident and communicated its displeasure.