REDS OVERHEAD
EERIE pictures show gigantic Chinese spy balloon the size of three buses which was spotted lurking over the US.
Pentagon officials admitted they had been tracking the enormous craft for days but had opted not to shoot it down.
4
4
The giant balloon was tracked by fighter jets and was spotted lurking near US nuke bases.
It is a "brazen" act by Beijing as tensions continue to simmer between the US and China.
"Clearly, the intent of this balloon is for surveillance," said a US official.
The official said that the balloon had flown over areas that contained sensitive airbases and nuclear missiles in underground silos.
READ MORE ON CHINA
And it comes just days before a planned trip to Beijing by US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
Fighter jets were mobilised but military chiefs advised President Joe Biden against shooting the balloon down.
It was feared of falling debris from the colossal surveillance blimp could pose a danger to people on the ground.
China has remained coy and said they are "investigating" reports of the balloon.
Most read in The US Sun
The balloon was spotted in Montana, which is home to the Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Malmstrom Air Force Base houses one of the three nuclear missile fields in the US.
It is home to 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
Blinken had been due to arrive in China on Friday, becoming the highest ranking member US official to visit since the start of Covid.
And his visit comes amid a a backdrop of strained relationships between the US and China.
Fears of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, human rights, rows over trade, and territorial disputes in the South China Sea have seen relationships strained.
The level of espionage aimed at our country by Beijing has grown dramatically more intense & brazen
Marco Rubio
It was not clear what the military was doing to prevent it from collecting sensitive information or what will happen with the balloon if it isn't eventually shot down.
US officials said the spy balloon had been tracked near the Aleutian Islands and Canada before entering the US.
The US took "custody" of the balloon when it entered its airspace - mobilising F-22 Raptor jets and a surveillance plane.
The balloon is understood to have been operating above civilian air traffic and below "outer space."
Such balloons typically operate at 80,000 and 120,000 feet - with airliners normally flying around 40,000ft.
4
The advantages of balloons over satellites include the ability to scan wide swathes of territory from closer in, and to be able to spend more time over an area.
And unlike satellites, which require space launchers that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, balloons can be launched very cheaply.
The balloons are not directly steered, but can be roughly guided to a target area by changing altitudes to catch different wind currents.
The US military has tracked other spy balloons in recent years, according to a senior US defense official.
US Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said the spy balloon was alarming but not surprising.
"The level of espionage aimed at our country by Beijing has grown dramatically more intense & brazen over the last 5 years," Rubio said on Twitter.
US officials brought up the issue with their Chinese counterparts through diplomatic channels in Beijing and in Washington.
"We have communicated to them the seriousness with which we take this issue," said a US official, quoted by Reuters.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, announced the situation on Thursday.
"The United States Government has detected and is tracking a high altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now.
"The U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely.
"The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years.
"Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information."
Craig Singleton, a China expert of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that such balloons had been widely used by the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War.
"The timing of this incident is curious, coming only days before Secretary Blinken planned travel to Beijing," he said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning gave a glib response to the balloon reports at a briefing.
"Verification is under way," she said.
"Until the facts are clear, making conjectures and hyping up the issue will not help to properly resolve it.
"China is a responsible country and always abides strictly by international law. We have no intention of violating the territory or airspace of any sovereign country
Read More on The US Sun
"(We) hope that both sides will handle (the situation) with mutual calm and prudence."
4