By 
February 3rd, 2023
Image credit: USNI News
Video stills are in circulation of the Chinese balloon after it was hit with an AIM-9X anti-air missile fired from a F-22 Raptor on Feb. 4, 2023.
The Raptor was dispatched from the 149 Fighter Squadron based at Langley Air Force Base.
Used to down the balloon was a single AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, fired from the jet flying at 58,000 feet to hit the China-lofted balloon that was afloat at 62,000 feet.
Post-shoot down, a trio of Navy warships, service divers and the FBI are on the hunt for the wreckage of a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon. The leftovers of the balloon, about the size of three school buses, are spread over a seven-mile debris field in shallow water in the Atlantic.
Go to: https://youtu.be/VNVhLhq3CEQ
Off coast of South Carolina
In a statement released yesterday by Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, he said that U.S. fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command successfully brought down the high altitude surveillance balloon launched by and belonging to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over the water off the coast of South Carolina in U.S. airspace.
Austin said that “the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities.”
An F-22 Raptor fighter delivered the knock-out punch.
Image credit: DoD
Loitering
This current case showcased China’s willingness to place the balloon over the continental United States for an extended period of time.
Furthermore, it was noted in Pentagon briefings that the U.S. military has sufficient authority to take action under Title 10 against unmanned aerial systems of which this balloon would be a part. That’s 10 U.S.C. 130i – “Protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft.”
Image credit: U.S. Homeland Defense
It was also announced that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken deferred the taking of an upcoming trip to China in response to the balloon overflight of the United States.
A State Department official has noted the decision to postpone the China trip:
“We do acknowledge – we note the PRC’s statement of regret, but again, the presence of this balloon in our airspace is clearly unacceptable and a clear violation of our sovereignty. And our clear assessment was that under these current conditions it wouldn’t be constructive to visit Beijing at this time. But I’ll also reiterate that this is a postponement, and the Secretary plans to travel at the earliest appropriate opportunity when conditions allow.”
As explained earlier by Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the balloon was toting surveillance gear as well as a payload, Ryder said, not elaborating about the payload.
“Once the balloon was detected, we acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Ryder added.
Chinese balloon taken by Frank Melliere near Modoc, Illinois.
Image credit: Frank Melliere/Twitter/Facebook
“We know this is a Chinese balloon and that it has the ability to maneuver,” said Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary.
China reaction
China’s Ministry of National Defense on Sunday called the U.S. “overreacting” after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese unmanned airship that China said unintendedly entered the U.S. airspace days ago.
“We express our solemn protest against this U.S. approach and reserve the right to use the necessary means to deal with similar situations,” said Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense on Sunday.
The Chinese government said the civilian airship was used for research, mainly meteorological purposes and was deviated far from its planned course, affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability.
Image credit: Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies
UAP lessons learned?
Any relevance to the sky-high banter regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or UAP – the new term often tied to UFOs?
As noted by Robert Powell, Executive Board Member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, the recent unclassified report by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has 336 new UAP reports as mentioned in their report of a couple of weeks ago.
“They did not supply detailed information on any of them. Reason — national security. No photos, no shapes, no locations, nothing,” Powell told Inside Outer Space.
“Now we have a Chinese balloon and suddenly national security is no longer a problem. We immediately identify it and make a lot of information public. They can supply a photo, its path over the U.S., let us know they shot it down — all sorts of information,” Powell said. “So if the government can supply this information on a Chinese balloon, why can’t it supply similar information on any of these 336 reports?”
Meanwhile, an informative update on the Chinese balloon flying over the USA and an answer on what it might have been has been produced by John Powell of JP Aerospace.
Posted in Space News
