The US pondered employing fighters to take down “Chinese airships” above the area, but ultimately decided against it. What could have been the cause? Let’s find out.
On February 2, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder stated that the US military has tracked and identified an object believed to be a Chinese spy balloon in the country’s northern airspace over the previous few days.
According to an unidentified US defense official, President Joe Biden requested countermeasures from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after being notified.
The Pentagon has devised a plan to send F-22 stealth planes to the area so they can be ready for action while also deploying fighter jets to take down balloons over Montana. A number of flights to and from the southern Montana city of Billings have been halted as a result of coordination between the US military and civil aviation authorities.
“In the event that a command to destroy targets over Montana is given, we put several planes on alert. We want to confirm that the airspace over that region is clear. But even that is relevant. Despite taking all necessary preparations, the commanders decided that the risk of shooting down the balloon was too great and abandoned the mission “added the official.
The lives of those below could be endangered by falling debris from the downed airship, according to the Pentagon. Balloons also travel at great altitudes—much higher than aviation—and pose no threat to soldiers or civilians on the ground, according to Ryder.
The device, according to the Biden administration, has “minimal usefulness” in intelligence collection because it does not produce any information that is distinct from the photographs taken by spy satellites in orbit.
The US military moved swiftly to stop the balloon from gathering crucial information, especially given that its flight path travelled over numerous sensitive areas. We also took a number of other precautionary countermeasures,” the official, who wished to remain unnamed, added while declining to specify what steps were taken.
A Minuteman III ICBM station is located in Montana, one of five US states with such a facility. Regarding the information from the US side, China has not responded.
