The US has been carrying out rescue efforts for the Chinese balloon that it dropped on the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, February 4th. And now, US Northern Command said in a statement regarding the Chinese balloon shot down near South Carolina, “The crew has managed to remove significant debris from the site, including all the priority sensors and electronics detected and large parts of the structure.”
Deputy Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton told senators in an interview last week that the high-altitude balloon, when inflated, “can carry a load of 60 meters and the size of a jet plane.” Senior State Department officials also said the wreckage contained “multiple antennas, possibly capable of collecting communications and geolocating.”
The US claims that this first object dropped was a “spy balloon belonging to the People’s Republic of China”. He says the object poses no physical threat to the United States, but was likely developed “to gather intelligence in connection with the People’s Liberation Army.”
Officials say they believe Chinese spy balloons are most likely circulating in airspace around the world. Beijing denies these claims, arguing that the balloon is simply a weather-monitoring instrument that deviates from its course.
3 more objects hit after the Chinese balloon
Following the downing of this balloon on February 4, three more unidentified air bodies were dropped after entering North American airspace. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau confirmed on February 10 that a flying object described as an “airship type” had been shot down on the remote northern coast of Alaska, with a smaller object following it over Canada’s Yukon on February 11.
On Sunday, February 12, a fourth air object was dropped by an air-to-air missile launched by F-16 warplanes over Lake Huron, Michigan.
While the remains of these last 3 objects have not been found, at least the first balloon is currently in the hands of the US authorities. But finding the falling points of the other three does not seem easy. Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby, who served as the Strategic Communications Coordinator in the United States Navy, said at a press conference on February 13, “Objects in Alaska and Canada are in fairly remote terrain – ice, wilderness, all of that – making them hard to find in winter weather. And the object above Lake Huron is probably lying in very deep water right now,” he said.
This is how authorities moved the wreckage of the Chinese balloon.There was wild speculation early Monday after US authorities dismissed the possibility that the fourth object on Lake Huron was an alien. Speaking at a press conference, General Glen VanHerck, head of NORAD and the US Northern Command, was asked if the object was likely to be alien. “I cannot rule out anything at this point,” he replied, according to the Associated Press. This response was followed by statements from the White House that said there was no indication that the last objects hit included aliens.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre laughed at the idea at a press conference on 13 February and replied: “I know there are questions and concerns about this, but once again, there is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity in these latest shootings. Again, there are no indications of aliens or [extraterrestrial] activity in these recent drop-offs.” An interesting moment was captured by Jean-Pierre’s laughter in the midst of this statement.
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