Biden said he was not surprised by the balloon incident. (file)
Washington:
President Joe Biden on Monday defended a decision to wait until a Chinese balloon crossed the United States before shooting it down, and the White House said valuable intelligence was being taken from the device.
China says the balloon was a mistaken weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but Washington describes it as a sophisticated high-altitude spy vehicle.
A US fighter jet shot down the balloon in the Atlantic off the East Coast on Saturday and the Navy and Coast Guard are currently recovering the wreckage for intelligence analysis.
“Once it came out of Canada into the United States, I told the Department of Defense that I wanted to shoot it down as soon as possible,” Biden told reporters.
“They concluded that we should not land it. It was not a serious threat and that we should wait until it was out of the water.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US personnel “have recovered some remains from the surface of the ocean,” although weather conditions have not allowed much surveillance of the wreckage area.
“In the coming days they’ll be able to get down there and get a better look at what’s on the ocean floor, but it’s just the beginning,” Kirby said.
The measures were put in place, Kirby said, to ensure that the balloon instruments “reduced” their ability to spy during flyovers, while “at the same time increasing and improving our ability to gather intelligence and information”. “
“We are still analyzing the information that we were able to collect before the balloon was taken out of the sky and now we are going to recover it and I suspect we may learn even more.”
Biden, who has tried to bring more stability to relations with China, said he was not surprised by the balloon incident.
“The balloon question and the attempt to spy on the United States is something that is expected from China,” he said.
“It is not a question of trusting China, it is a question of deciding where we can work together and where we are at odds.”
giant balloon and payload
After drifting slowly over the middle of the United States, reportedly over several top secret military sites, the balloon headed to the East Coast, where it was dropped.
General Glenn VanHerk, head of the US Northern Command, told reporters that a Navy ship is in the process of mapping the debris field, which is expected to reach about 1,500 by 1,500 meters (yards) in the Atlantic.
He said the balloon itself was up to 200 feet (60 m) tall and carried a payload weighing several thousand pounds that was roughly the size of a regional jet aircraft.
According to Kirby, there was no intention of sending the pieces back to China. “I don’t know of any intention or plan to return it,” he said.
And VanHerck said the wreckage of the balloon would be carefully studied.
“I don’t know where the debris is going for the final analysis, but I will tell you that certainly the law enforcement community as well as the intelligence community that operates under the counterintelligence will be taking a good look at this,” he said. Said .
One detail already known, Kirby said, is that the balloon was not only drifting, but it had propellers and steering to give a measure of control, even as it drifted in high-altitude jet stream winds. Have gone
“It is true that this balloon had the ability to accelerate, decelerate and turn itself.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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