The fall of a huge Chinese balloon off the coast USAafter which it crashed two smaller flying objects over Alaska and Canada — and another over Michigan on Sunday — raised security concerns in North America and further strained relations with China.

Here’s what’s known so far, according to The Guardian.:

What were these four items?

The story begins in late January, when a giant Chinese balloon, which US officials said was a reconnaissance balloon, flared in US skies for several days before being shot down by an F-22 fighter off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.

China insisted that the balloon was doing meteorological research.

The Pentagon said it carried a basket the size of three buses and weighed more than a ton, was equipped with multiple antennas and solar panels large enough to power multiple intelligence gathering sensors.

Then on Friday, Feb. 10, U.S. fighter jets shot down another object off northern Alaska, the military said, adding that it was “in U.S. airspace over U.S. territorial waters.” According to officials, it had no power plant or control systems.

On Saturday, a US F-22 fighter jet, acting on orders from the US and Canada, shot down a “high-altitude aerial object” over central Canada, about 160 kilometers from the US border, saying it posed a threat to civilians. flights. Canada described it as being cylindrical and smaller than the original balloon. Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand did not speculate on whether it came from China.

Officials described a second and third car-sized objects.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden ordered US military aircraft to shoot down an unidentified object over Lake Huron in Michigan “out of a precaution,” a senior administration official said.

The facility was described as an octagonal structure with ropes hanging from it and was not considered a military threat. However, it could pose a danger to civil aviation because it flew at an altitude of about 20,000 feet, the official said.

US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, who was briefed by the Biden administration after the Yukon incident, said on Sunday – before the Lake Huron incident – that the previous two objects were likely balloons, “but much smaller than the first,” while while both were flying at about 40,000 feet.

So far, only the first object has been assigned to Beijing.

The commander of the US military, in charge of protecting US airspace, said on Sunday he could not determine how the last three objects shot down over the past three days were able to take off, adding that he does not call them balloons.

What has been recovered?

Military teams operating from aircraft, boats and mini-submarines are scouring the shallow waters off the coast of South Carolina in search of the first target. Military images so far show the restoration of much of the balloon. The FBI is holding the wreckage for analysis.

Operations to retrieve the second object are ongoing on sea ice near Deadhorse, Alaska. “Determining factors are Arctic weather conditions, including cold winds, snow and limited daylight hours,” the military said.

Rescue teams, backed by a Canadian CP-140 patrol aircraft, are searching for the wreckage of a third site in the Yukon, Anand said on Saturday.

The Pentagon said the FBI is working closely with the Canadian police.

U.S. military personnel, equipped with special diving equipment designed for the extremely cold waters of Michigan’s Lake Huron, are expected to quickly go in search of parts of the damaged fourth facility.

Why are there so many items now?

The United States said the balloons were part of a “flotilla” spanning five continents. Some analysts say this could be the start of a massive Chinese effort to monitor foreign military forces in the face of a possible increase in tensions in Taiwan in the coming years.

Analysts say U.S. and Canadian intelligence is constantly exposed to massive amounts of raw data and typically cuts out some of it to focus on the threat of incoming missiles rather than slow-moving objects like balloons.

“Now, of course, we are all looking. So I think we’re probably finding more material,” Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told NBC.

The Pentagon noted that since the opening of the balloon, they have carefully studied the radar.

Officials said three balloons are now known to have briefly flown over U.S. soil during the Trump administration — and were not detected at the time — and one earlier during the Biden presidency.

How will this affect US-China relations?

The United States has postponed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to China to stabilize a highly strained relationship and has imposed sanctions on six Chinese organizations believed to be supporting military reconnaissance balloon programs.

Beijing condemned the downing of the first balloon, saying it “seriously violates international practice.” He reserved the right to “use the necessary means to deal with such situations.”

There was no reaction from the Chinese side to the latest shelling.

Source: Guardian