Report: US military tracking another mysterious balloon

The U.S. military is tracking another mysterious balloon that’s flown over American soil, three months after shooting down the Chinese surveillance airship. The Pentagon has been following the unidentified object for a week that has flown over Hawaii and is heading towards Mexico. It’s not clear who it or what it belongs, but it hasn’t flown over any sensitive military sites, NBC reported. U.S. officials do not believe it belongs to China, but are still said to be considering whether to shoot it down if it gets near land. At the end of January, the Pentagon detected a Chinese spy balloon that flew over mainland U.S. The Biden administration waited until it was off the coast of South Carolina to shoot it down on February 4. The balloon entered US airspace on 28 January and was shot down on 4 February after passing over US nuclear missile sites, including the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Pictured: File photo. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12034569/US-tracking-mysterious-balloon.html?ito=msngallery

The intel collected was mostly from electronic signals, rather than images, experts said. China previously claimed that the balloon was a civilian weather balloon that strayed off course. The foreign ministry condemned its shooting down as an ‘overreaction.’ On Monday, satellite pictures were revealed 12034123 showing a 100ft-long blimp developed by the Chinese military at a secret desert military base. The images of a base in northwestern China were taken three months before a Chinese spy balloon was shot down off the US coast and could indicate a significant advancement in China’s airship program, aerospace experts said. The 100ft-long blimp sitting in the middle of a nearly 0.6mile-long runway could be a ‘more versatile and maneuverable craft than previously seen or known,’ CNN reports. The images, taken by US satellite imaging company BlackSky, were presented to several aerospace experts, who confirmed they show a blimp, a runway, a pivot point to launch airships and a 900ft-long hanger hangar. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12034569/US-tracking-mysterious-balloon.html?ito=msngallery

Jamey Jacobs, executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute, said that a blimp like this may be used as a ‘submarine of the skies,’ as its propulsion and navigation capabilities could see it hovering over an area for quite some time. A senior Defense Department official said since the blimp was visible via satellite imagery, the Pentagon would be aware and tracking the object, but declined to comment what threat the blimp may pose as part of China’s arsenal. The satellite images confirm that China is using all types of airships: blimps, aerostats and free-floating balloons, like the one shot down over the coast of South Carolina on February 4. Eli Hayes, who has studied the Chinese airship program for years, said the blimp’s appearance on a secret military base marks a transition in Chinese blimp technology and research from being civilian to use in the military. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12034569/US-tracking-mysterious-balloon.html?ito=msngallery

William Kim, a surveillance balloon specialist at The Marathon Initiative, a non-profit military and diplomatic research organization, said if he had to guess, he would say the blimp was part of ‘some sort of testing.’ Other satellite imagery and analysis suggest that there may be bigger goals for the secret airship site and the Chinese airship program. Recently issues patents indicate that a unit has been created to oversee the technology as well as that the new unit holds several patents relating to airship technology and storage. When the massive hanger was built in 2013, there was little activity around it for years until these recent images show the new blimp near the hangar. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12034569/US-tracking-mysterious-balloon.html?ito=msngallery

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