The US shot down an alleged spy balloon in February. The Ministry of Defense has now announced that the balloon did not record any data during the flight. .
The Chinese balloon shot down by a US fighter jet over the Atlantic in February did not collect any intelligence, according to the US Department of Defense. “In our estimation, the balloon did not collect data as it flew over the United States,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said on Thursday.
Consequently, the US “took steps to limit the balloon’s collection of information”. Those efforts “certainly helped,” Ryder said, but offered no further explanation.
Disagreement between Washington and Beijing
The day-long flyby of a Chinese balloon over the United States led to a scandal between Washington and Beijing earlier this year. A US fighter jet finally brought the balloon down over the US east coast. According to US information, it was a Chinese spy balloon. Beijing rejects this and talks of a civilian meteorological balloon that went off course.
At the time, a US official said the balloon had multiple antennae. According to him, it was “equipped with solar panels large enough to generate the energy needed to operate several active reconnaissance sensors”.
Shortly before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China last week, President Joe Biden downplayed the balloon incident, saying: “I don’t think the (Chinese) leadership knew where the balloon was and what it contained. and what was ahead of them went”.