The Chinese balloon shot down by a US fighter jet over the Atlantic Ocean in February failed to gather intelligence, according to the US Department of Defense. “In our estimation, the balloon was not collecting data as it flew over the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said Thursday.
Accordingly, the US had taken “measures to limit the information gathering by the balloon”. Those efforts “certainly helped,” Ryder said, but offered no further explanation.
Discord between Beijing and Washington
The day-long overflight of a Chinese balloon over the United States sparked a scandal between Washington and Beijing earlier this year. A US fighter jet eventually shot down the balloon over the US East Coast. According to US information, it was a Chinese spy balloon.
Beijing rejected this, speaking of a civil balloon for meteorological purposes that had gone off course and protesting the “apparent overreaction”. China expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with the “use of force” by the US against a “civil unmanned aerial vehicle”. It is a “serious violation” of international practices.
Objects can intercept communications
Balloons are considered important observation platforms. Its use is not uncommon. Unlike satellites, they can stay in one place and don’t need to re-orbit the Earth to get more images, experts say. They can observe more closely and are difficult to detect for radar.
Source: Krone
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